Violence a jolt, but farm unions firm on repeal of laws & MSP

Violence a jolt, but farm unions firm on repeal of laws & MSP

New Delhi:27.01.2021 

Tuesday’s violence during the tractor rallies came as a setback for farm unions agitating for repeal of farm laws. However, they vowed to continue their protests, while seeking to dissociate themselves from the violence, reports Vishwa Mohan.

The unions said there were no plans to abandon the march to Parliament on Budget day, though neither courts nor the Central government may be accommodative this time. The unions, which have received favourable notice so far, will find themselves being questioned over the manner in which their rally spun out of control and resulted in chaos.

Union leaders do not appear ready to give up on their core demands — repeal of laws and legal guarantee to minimum support price (MSP). Some of them even feel that their protests are getting more traction. The unions will wait to see how opposition parties take up the stir in the Budget session, which begins on Friday.

Did Tarn Taran youth hoist flag at Red Fort?

A video of a youth hoisting the Sikh religious flag at Red Fort went viral on social media. He was later identified as Jugraj Singh from a village in Punjab’s Tarn Taran. P 5

Govt ‘expects’ TV coverage to hurt farmers’ stir

The likely stand of the Centre, which has so far been at pains to signal its flexibility to amend the laws — short of repeal — was not clear, though BJP members were taken aback by the violence. The government and BJP offered no word on the violence, with sources saying the priority was to restore law and order. The government seemed to expect the televised events to hurt the protest, while the proceedings in SC, which had asked if the rally would be peaceful, could also see the Centre spelling out its stand.

So far, the government has been careful in not using coercive methods, keeping in mind the sensitivity of Punjab, from where most of the unions are from, being a border state and the likely role of extremists in exploiting the situation. The unions said they had mobilised some groups in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, MP and West Bengal to intensify the agitation. All these states, along with Assam and Manipur, witnessed protests on Tuesday. Until now, the mobilisation has been largely cadre-based with Left-aligned All India Kisan Sabha playing a leading role.

“Those elements which are not going along with the collective spirit of farmers’ movement and which broke the norms, are the ones who have weakened themselves, and it is not the movement that is weakened,” said Kavitha Kuruganti of Mahila Kisan Adhikar Manch.

Full report on www.toi.in