Congress workers dump vegetables on road as Tanwar ends hunger strike

KARNAL: Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar ended his three-day hunger strike to protest police firing during a farmers strike in Madhya Pradesh''s Mandsaur, for implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report and against law and order problems in the state on Wednesday.

Congress workers dump vegetable on a road during a protest march in Karnal on Wednesday. Tribune photo

Parveen Arora
Tribune News Service
Karnal, June 21

Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar ended his three-day hunger strike to protest police firing during a farmers strike in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur, for implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report and against law and order problems in the state on Wednesday.

His daughter Abhistada and another girl offered him coconut water to end his strike. Tanwar and his supporters, who also broke their own fast, later marched towards national highway-1 in protest, where they made to unload a trailer full of vegetables, but were stopped by police.

Protesters dumped the vegetables on a road near the Mini Secretariat.

No sitting MLAs and MP participated in the protest that Tanwar began on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s birthday on Monday, although former MLAs and former ministers participated.

Former minister Capt. Ajay Yadav extended his support to Tanwar’s protest on Wednesday and accused the BJP government in the state of being apathetic toward farmers’ plight.

Addressing a gathering at the site of protest, Yadav accused the central and state government on having gone back on their promises. He left before the protest march.

Tanwar announces protest schedule

Tanwar announced the schedule of further protests: Sonepat on June 26; Jhajjar and Beri on July 2; and in Gurugram on July 10.

He also read out from a resolution demanding release of a white paper on agriculture, loan waiver for farmers with up to 10 acres of land and compensation for losses they suffered due to demonetisation, besides implementation of Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations.

The resolution will be sent to the President of India, Governor of Haryana, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

Tanswar’s protest comes parallel to another protest that former Congress chief minister Bhupinder Hooda was holding, fuelling talks on infighting within the state unit.