Four Hour Farmers’ “Symbolic Bharat Bandh” on Tuesday, Centre’s Advisory to States to Maintain Peace and Tranquility

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Dec 7: With thousands of farmers and their family members squatting around Delhi causing as many as seven borders connecting the national capital with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh remaining completely closed on Monday, the centre has issued advisory to all the states and union territories to handle with care the Bharat Bandh” on Tuesday the call for which was given by the agitating farmers and supported by many political parties and the trade unions.

The Centre has asked all states and Union Territories to tighten security during Tuesday’s ‘Bharat Bandh’ while asserting that peace and tranquility were maintained properly and precautionary measures taken so that no untoward incident take place anywhere in the country, officials said.

The ongoing farmers’ protest has also caused traffic jams in many parts of the Delhi. The police said among the borders completely shut included Singhu, Tikri, Auchandi, Piao Maniyari, Mangesh, Jharoda, and Chilla. While the first six borders connect Delhi with Haryana, the Chilla border is used by people travelling between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh’s Noida, Greater Noida, Jewar, Mathura, Agra, and Lucknow.

In a countrywide advisory, the Union Home Ministry also said the state governments and UT administrations must ensure that the Covid-19 guidelines issued with regard to health and social distancing are strictly followed.

The ‘Bharat Bandh’ has been called by the farmers unions who have been protesting the three farm laws enacted in the Monsoon Session of Parliament. Among the major political parties to extend support to the bandh call were the Congress, NCP, DMK, SP, AAP, TRS and Left parties while a number of trade unions including some bank employees unions also announced their support to the call on Sunday.

The call for bandh was issued by the agitating farmers after their talks with the central government representatives over their demand for repeal of the three contentious farm laws remained inconclusive on Saturday forcing the Centre to call for another meeting on December 9 to resolve the deadlock.

The Bharat bandh or the nationwide strike called by the farmers against the farm laws will begin at 11am and continue till 3pm on Tuesday, a spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union said on Monday. “We don’t want to cause problems for a common man. Therefore, we will begin at 11am, so that they could leave for office on time. Work hours in offices will end by 3pm,” BKU’s Rakesh Tikait said.

During the strike, the agitators may block roads and services such as transport and banking may be affected. However, medical services like an ambulance or even weddings will go as usual.  “It is only a symbolic protest to register our opposition. It is to show that we don’t support some of the policies of the Government of India,” Tikait added.

While the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal along with his cabinet colleagues visited the Singhu border to personally check the agitating farmers’ well-being and to review facilities available for the farmers, the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Bannerjee sharpening her attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the ruling party should either immediately withdraw the “anti-people” farm laws or quit.

Speaking at a rally in West Midnapore, the TMC chief asserted that she would rather stay in jail than “remain silent or put up with BJP’s misrule.”

“The BJP government (at the Centre) should immediately withdraw the farm laws or step down (quit). It should not continue to remain in power after sacrificing the rights of the farmers,” she said. Elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly are likely to be held in April-May next year.

The Samajwadi Party chief and the former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav was on Monday detained after he launched a sit-in protest outside his residence in Lucknow before being stopped from going to Kannauj to lead a protest against the Centre’s three farm laws. Over hundreds of workers of the party, who continued with their protest against the farm laws were also arrested in Kannauj.

Yadav also wrote to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla over the protests asking him to step in. “Apart from being a Lok Sabha member and Samajwadi Party national president, I had fulfilled my constitutional duty as UP chief minister. There was a pre-announced programme of mine in Kannauj in support of farmers. All preparations were in place. But on the instructions of the UP government, I was prevented from going to Kannauj,” he wrote.

He added that a heavy police force has been deployed at his house on Vikramaditya Marg. “The police even took my vehicle under their control. This undemocratic behaviour of the state government is not only an infringement of my rights as a citizen but also of special privileges as an LS member. Kindly interfere so that my right to my democratic duties is restored,” Yadav wrote.

The Samajwadi Party president had announced statewide Kisaan Yatra – on foot, bicycles, motorcycles, tractors, etc – to protest the new agricultural reforms and lend support to the farmers’ cause. Earlier in the day, the SP president had tweeted asking people to join the protest rally. “Step by step, bow your head. Yeh jung hai zameen ki. Join the ‘Kisan Yatra’!” he wrote on Twitter in Hindi.

The police have cordoned off Vikramaditya Marg where Yadav’s house is and also deployed anti-riot vehicles. After Yadav was prevented from going to Kannauj, Rajendra Chaudhary, SP state spokesperson and former UP minister said, “This government is so scared of Akhilesh ji taking to streets. He has to go there to participate in the farmers’ protest and drive a tractor along with the farmers to raise their issue. First, the central government introduced draconian kind of farm laws and now the state government is preventing our party from protesting. This all is so anti-democratic,” said.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said that the call for ‘Bharat Bandh’ by farmers was is apolitical and people should willingly take part in it.

In another related development, backing the farmer’s call for ‘Bharat Bandh’, the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana requested all the advocates of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, including the advocates at Punjab and Haryana High Court, to abstain from work on Tuesday.

The Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana also decided to send 1,000 blankets and dry ration to the agitating farmers at Singhu border, media reports said.