CHANDIGARH: Six months after they descended on the Delhi border seeking repeal of the three farm laws, the protesting farmers may have been forgotten by the Centre amid the Covid surge, but their movement is still alive.
Farmers in Dandoor village of Hisar district on Wednesday raised anti-government slogans and burned the effigy of the BJP government to mark the Black Day on the completion of six months of farmers agitation against the three farms laws.
In Jhajjar, farmers hoisted black flags and took out a motorbike rally at the Tikri border to mark the completion of six months of their protest at Delhi borders.
Though the Centre has not yielded to the pressure and talks have not resumed since the last meeting in January, the farmers protesting at Singhu and Tikri on Tuesday said they will observe Wednesday as a “black day” to mark the six months of their agitation. They say they are satisfied with the “larger picture” they have sketched on the political canvas since their struggle began on November 26 last year. BKU (Charuni) leader Gurnam Singh Charuni said, “The BJP’s graph is dipping. This is evident from its loss in the West Bengal elections where the farmers campaigned against it. Ours is a mass movement now. We are proud that we stood up to the government.”
The farmers are clear about staying put till their demands are met. “The government will have to take back its contentious laws. We are not going back empty-handed,” says farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal.
Alleging that the government used every means to divide the farmers of Punjab and Haryana, Pargat Singh of BKU (Rajewal) said, “We are headed in the right direction.”
The farmers’ unions have written to the Centre on the resumption of talks. “The studied silence of the Centre is neither in the interest of the government nor the nation,” Charuni said.