Farmers protest, demand release of Amritpal Singh's aides

Amritsar, April 3

Members of the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) on Monday staged a massive protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office here demanding the release of all those arrested under the National Security Act, besides terming the government action as unwarranted.

The protest was organised following a statewide call given by the union. The union leaders said protests and marches were organized at all district headquarters. After the two-hour protest at the Deputy Commissioner’s office, the farmers marched towards Jallianwala Bagh and raised slogans against the Centre and the state government.

The farmers alleged that the Central Government was trying to polarise the majority community in the country before the next Lok Sabha elections. They said even the state government was helping the BJP and trying to create divisions between different communities. They said the central forces should be sent back as people of the state were united.

Kashmir Singh, district president of the union, said, “Punjab had recently led the farming agitation against the three anti-farming laws passed by the Central Government.”

He said the state government and the Centre wanted to discourage the people who had always fought for their rights. Though the state had an adequate number of jails and police force, the central forces were called to the state. They could not arrest the main accused and those who did not commit any crime were booked under the NSA and shifted to other states.

The farmers’ body later took out a march on city roads leading to traffic jams. Long traffic jams were witnessed on the roads near the District Administrative Complex. Queues of vehicles stranded in the traffic jams were seen from Kacheri Chowk to SSSS Chowk.