A day ahead of the crucial meeting with the Centre, the protesting farmers from Punjab camping at different locations along the boundary with Haryana on Saturday asked the Union government to bring an ordinance for a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) on crops.
At Shambhu, addressing a press conference, Sarwan Singh Pandher of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) said the government should immediately issue an ordinance if it wanted to resolve the farmers’ protest. “If the Modi government’s intent is clear towards resolving the issue, then they can bring an ordinance on legal guarantee for MSP immediately. Discussions can then proceed further,” he said.
Noting that the government currently offered MSP for 23 crops based on the ‘A2 plus FL’ formula, Mr. Pandher suggested that it can bring out an ordinance for the same formula and then continue deliberations on giving providing MSP based on the C2+50% formula.
The KMM and the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) — the two umbrella bodies of around 200 farmers and farm labourer unions — had given the call for the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march to press for fulfilment of their demands. On February 13, as farmers from Punjab arrived at Shambhu-Ambala and Khanauri-Jind, the inter-State boundaries with Haryana, they were stopped from entering the State; they have been camping there since then. The Haryana government had put in place elaborate security arrangements with multi-layer barricades. Tear gas and water cannon were used to disperse agitating farmers.
The fourth round of meetings between farmer representatives and Union Ministers is slated for February 18. On the fifth day of their protest march on Saturday, the farmers remained at the Shambhu and Khanauri areas of the Punjab-Haryana border, and the situation remained calm.
Farmers associated with the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), one of the largest outfits in Punjab, came out in support of those protesting at the boundary by making toll plazas free at close to two dozen places in 13 districts of Punjab.
Besides, members of BKU (Ugrahan) started a two-day sit-in protest close to the residences of senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). They sat on ‘dharna’ outside the residence of BJP Punjab president Sunil Jakhar in Fazilka’s Panjkosi village, former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s residence in Patiala and senior party leader Kewal Dhillon’s house in Barnala.
In Haryana, farmers associated with Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni) took out a tractor march at several places, including Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar and Sirsa, to extend support to the protesting farmers. Its national president Gurnam Singh Charuni said that a peaceful tractor march was held at nearly all tehsil headquarters in the State. A ‘mahapanchayat’ (big-athering) of farmers and farm labourers will be held on February 18 at Kurukshetra to devise a strategy by which they can support the protesting farmers, he added.
