Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 28: While the agitating farmers condemned for the Republic Day mayhem have adopted defensive posture, the opposition parties seems to be taking the offensive with most of the non-BJP parties deciding to boycott the president’s inaugural address to Parliament and the Trinamool Congress-ruled West Bengal becoming the sixth state Assembly in the country to adopt a resolution demanding repeal of the three contentious farm laws.
The famer leaders who announced cancellation of the march to Parliament on the budget day fearing a repeat of Republic Day violence, have so far refrained from chalking out any other agitational programme putting the government off the hook. Instead the farm leaders have decided to observe a day’s fast on the martyrs day on Saturday as a penance for the desecration of the iconic Red Fort.
Putting more pressure on the agitators, the police issued notices to the farm leaders who had attended meetings with police officers prior to the tractor parade to explain why actions should not be taken against them for alleged breach of promise. The notices claimed that the leaders had agreed to follow the route and timings decided mutually for the tractor rally on the Republic Day but violated the understanding in letting loose the perpetrators of violence who also ransacked the Red Fort and hoisted religious flags.
The farmers who returned to their pre-January 26 positions at Singhu, Ghazipur and other border posts outside Delhi alleged that the authorities deliberately switched off power supply and stopped water tankers to the areas in an apparent bid to force evict them from the borders of the national capital.
Agitating farmers on Thursday accused the government of trying to intimidate them and feared force could be used to evict them amid heavy police deployment at Singhu and Ghazipur farmer protest sites.
Additional personnel from the Uttar Pradesh police and Rapid Action Force wearing anti-riot gear and carrying sticks, firearms, and tear gas have been deployed at Ghazipur since Wednesday night. Farmers said the power supply was disconnected around 8 pm on Wednesday while the water tankers for them, too, were stopped on Thursday morning.
The farmers said the sudden stoppage of the power supply triggered panic at the Ghazipur protest venue, and they spent a sleepless night guarding their tractors, trollies, and tents. They added they had to switch on the headlights of their tractors and lit bonfires to keep themselves warm as nobody was able to sleep inside the tents or trollies throughout the night.
“The administration is trying to intimidate us by disconnecting power and water supply at the Ghazipur protest venue. Many representatives of police and intelligence wing are here. If they have anything to tell us, if they want to evict us from here, they should come and talk to us. If the government wants to talk to us, we are ready for it. The solution can only be through dialogues and not by bullets and sticks. We will not leave the protest venue even if the police administration use force on us,” said Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait while addressing the gathering of farmers.
After issuing a notice on Wednesday to farmer leader Darshan Pal Singh, the Delhi police on Thursday issued similar notices to 20 more farmer leaders for defying terms and conditions agreed upon for the tractor rally. They have been asked to explain why legal action should not be taken against them and their organisations for the Republic Day violence.
Signed by the DCP (Headquarters) Chinmoy Biswal, the notices have told the leaders to file a reply within three days. The letter said despite agreeing to the mutually decided terms and conditions for the rally, the farmer leaders acted in an irresponsible manner on January 26. Militant elements occupied the stage and delivered provocative speeches right from the early hours of the day.
“Your wrong intent was apparent in the night of January 25 itself when militant component of protesting farmers and fabricated tractors, who were on the rear of the dharna, were brought forward at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders. These militant elements occupied the stage and started provocative speeches right from the early hours of January 26,” the letter to Darshan Pal Singh said.
According to the police, the tractor rally started at 7.30-8.30 am from Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, and not noon. They accused Singh of not waiting till the end of Republic Day parade and going ahead with the rally.
It further said the most serious and reprehensible act was performed by the farmers’ organisation and other supporters at Red Fort. “The protesters climbed atop the ASI-protected monument and vandalized the whole area and put up a religious flag on the national monument. Flags of various farmer organisations were also recovered from the premises. The vandalism at the Red Fort on Republic Day was most deplorable and an anti-national act,” the letter said.
With the budget session of Parliament beginning on Friday, 16 opposition parties including the Congress announced boycott of the inaugural address by the president Ram Nath Kovind in protest against passage of the three farm laws in the last session without offering any opportunity to the opposition to discuss the measures.
Announcing the decision, the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “We are issuing a statement from 16 political parties that we are boycotting President’s Address that will be delivered at Parliament tomorrow. The major reason behind this decision is that the Bills (Farm Laws) were passed forcibly in House, without Opposition,” said Azad.
Besides Congress, the 15 other parties are the NCP, Shiv Sena, SP, RJD, DMK, CPI(M), AITC, JKNC, CPI, IUML, RSP, PDP, MDMK, Kerala Congress and AIUDF.
Earlier in the day, continuing his attack on the Centre over the three contentious farm laws, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the country would have been on fire all farmers understood the finer print of the laws.
Addressing an event in Kerala, Rahul said: “The truth is that most farmers do not understand the details of the Bill (the three Farm Laws), because if they did, there would be an agitation all across the country. The country would be on fire.”
In the West Bengal Assembly, state’s parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee moved the resolution seeking immediate withdrawal of the laws by the government.
Before Bengal, five states – Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Kerala had rejected the implementation of these laws in their states.
Addressing the Assembly, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said the Centre should either withdraw the new laws or step down.
The CPI(M) and the Congress supported the resolution but demanded that the state government withdraw similar laws it had passed a few years back. The BJP boycotted the House and shouting “Jai Shri Ram” slogan the party MLAs walked out when the resolution was taken up for discussion.