Haryana farmers observe ‘black day’

Following the call of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), farmers on Wednesday observed ‘black day’ across Haryana to mark six months of their agitation against Centre’s three farm laws and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP).

Farmers hoisted black flags at the protest site tents, houses, vehicles and villages.

INLD general secretary Abhay Singh Chautala, who had resigned from the Haryana assembly in support of the agitation, marked ‘black day’ at his Teja Khera farmhouse in Sirsa.

Farmers wore black badges and burnt effigies of PM Modi, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his deputy Dushyant Chautala at Tikri, Singhu, Khatkar toll plaza in Jind, Rohad in Rohtak, Kitlana toll plaza in Bhiwani and many other areas.

At Tikri border, the protesters took out a bike rally, led by BKU Ekta (Ugrahan) chief Joginder Singh Ugrahan.

Ugrahan said they are ready for a long-haul and farmers have started coming to all protest sites after harvesting their crops.

“We will not go back until the farm laws are repealed. We will discuss the next moves to intensify the agitation. We are ready to hold talks with the government and are waiting for government’s response,” he added.

Hundreds of women participated in the protest at Karnal’s Bastara toll plaza by wearing black scarves.

“Men of our families are leading the protest in Delhi and we have come here to hold protest as our agitation has completed six months,” said protester Sonia Tanwar at Bastara toll plaza.

In Kurukshetra, leaders associated with BKU (Charuni) took out a protest march. BKU (Charuni) spokesperson Rakesh Bains said farmers are camping on Delhi borders for the last six months but government is not concerned about them.

He said the government is misleading people and is not ready to hold talks even as the morcha leaders have written to the PM.

In Panipat, the protesters gathered outside BJP’s district office and burnt effigies of the PM and the CM.

Similarly protests were reported in all sub-divisions and district headquarters of Panipat, Kurukshetra and Kaithal.

SKM leader Inderjit Singh said farmers, including women and children, came out in large numbers at all protest sites to observe ‘black day’.

Some farmers were seen flouting Covid norms by not wearing masks or maintaining social distance.

Farmers observed ‘black day’ at the Shambhu toll plaza (Ambala-Patiala Border) in Ambala and at Milk Majra toll plaza in Yamunanagar.

BKU’s Ambala district vice-president Gulab Singh said, “There is some movement on part of the government as now, their leaders in Punjab have started expressing anger over no solution. The government must have assumed that we will leave the protest sites, but we are ready to face them for years.”

Political parties including the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Haryana Democratic Front and many labour unions supported the protest.

PINK DHARNA IN ROHTAK

Pink ‘dharna’ was started by women at Rohtak’s Kheri Asadh village against the farm laws. This is the first dharna site in Haryana led by women protesters.

Jagmati Sangwan said women from across villages will gather here every day in rotation.

“This site is setup to mobilise women protesters. All activities here will be supervised by women. We plan to setup such dharnas across state,” she added.