Amritsar: Farmers exhort traders to join Bharat Bandh on February 16

Amritsar, February 13

Farmers under the banner of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha and members of the Central Trade Unions took out a march in city ahead of the Bharat Bandh on February 16. The march started from Bhandari bridge and passed through various markets of the city where activists urged shopkeepers and traders to participate in the protest on February 16.

While a section of farmer unions have already begun their Delhi march on Tuesday, the SKM and trade unions had given a separate call for Bharat Bandh. Farmer leaders Dr Satnam Singh Ajnala, Jatinder Singh Chinna, Lakhbir Singh Nizampura, Dhanwant Singh Khatraikalan and others stated that the government had failed to fulfil its promises even as it had given it in writing to the farmers to accept their demands.

The procession marched through Hall Bazaar, Heritage Street, Shera Wala Gate, near the bus stand, Ghah Mandi, the railway station, and Model Town before culminating at Putlighar Chowk. The farmer leaders appealed to the shopkeepers to join hands with the agrarian community as the pro-corporate policies of the BJP-led Union Government are also detrimental for small and medium businesses.

The farmer leaders stated that they would not force the closure of shops and commercial establishments as they wanted that that public should join it voluntarily. Satnam Singh Ajnala said the Central Government has harmed the interests of small shopkeepers by allowing multinational companies to make online deliveries of various products.

He said every person had the right to earn a livelihood. He said the multinational companies are trying to amass wealth and by helping them to do so, the government has violated the rights of middle-class and lower class shopkeepers.

Jatinder Singh Chinna of the Kirti Kisan Union said a direct fallout of the decreasing income of the farming community is poor returns for small and marginal traders. “A majority of the buyers are from agrarian and working classes as they constitute the largest share of the population. Ours is an agriculture-based economy, any effect on the agrarian community would ultimately impact the trading class,” he said, adding that different sections of society need to unite to oppose the pro-corporate and anti-people policies of the Central Government.

Various shopkeeper and trader associations announced that they would support the Bharat Bandh and assured that they would keep the markets closed. Earlier, the association of vegetable traders at the Vallah mandi, the biggest vegetable market in the Majha region, had announced that they would keep the market closed on the day.