Beware of Centre’s divisive tactics: Farm leaders

Ludhiana, March 28

Farmer unions' leaders today warned against the "divisive policies" of the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 'Kirti Kisan Mahapanchayat' held at Dana Mandi near Jalandhar Bypass here.

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Balbir Singh Rajewal, BKU (Rajewal) President

United fight can ensure justice

Only a united fight by farmers, farm workers and other working classes will ensure justice from an adamant dispensation working to scuttle the ongoing stir and safeguarding the interests of big corporates.

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"The danger of exploitation looms large not only on the farmers of the country with the three farm laws and the electricity Act, but also on the workers at large," warned the speakers at the event.

The mahapanchayat, organised by a non-political organisation floated by former bureaucrats SR Ladhar and Jagtar Singh, was attended by cadres of several farmers' groups, trade unions and the OBC Welfare Front.

BKU (Rajewal) president Balbir Singh Rajewal said protesting farmers' unions would forever remain indebted to the people, especially the working classes of Punjab and other states, for making the agitation as a peoples' struggle.

He said the three laws enacted by the Modi government without any debate or consultation with the farmers would not only destroy the basic structure of mandis and marketing of food grain, but would also make the common people suffer due to profit-oriented policies of corporates.

Ladhar and other speakers at the rally castigated the government for letting loose the reign of terror and oppression on farmers and workers. He said while the farmers would be left at the mercy of big corporates under the new laws, the labour would also face oppression and exploitation at the hands of employers under the labour laws which would become operative from April 1, 2021.

He said the government had made a nefarious attempt to snatch the basic rights of the workers like fixed working hours, right to form unions, right to strike work and reasonably good working conditions in the name of so-called labour reforms. "The farmers and workers would have to fight a united battle to secure their democratic and constitutional rights," he said. — OC

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