Agitating farmers have political support, claims Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 15

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has said the Haryana security agencies had conveyed to their Punjab counterparts that the farmers would not be allowed to proceed to Delhi, but no effort was made to stop them from converging at the borders.

Addressing a press conference after the launch of various initiatives, Khattar said this indicated that they had “political backing”. He said there was a difference between “supporting farmers” and supporting the “movement of farmers”.

Saying that the farmers came in trailers carrying ration and earth-movers, “like an army on the move”, he said the state had no problem in giving them passage to proceed to Delhi.

Haryana, not Punjab, bore the brunt in 2020

Punjab has not experienced the inconvenience of the farmers’ agitation of 2020. We experienced it first hand and the public was put to a lot of inconvenience due to sealed borders. We cannot let them converge with tractor-trailers and ration. —Manohar Lal Khattar, CM

“They could have gone by train or buses or as a delegation, but we can’t allow them to travel in tractor-trailers. These cannot be a means of transport. We all saw what happened during the last agitation when the tractor-trailers choked the Capital,” he said in response to a question about the farmers’ protest at the state borders. Stating that protecting the interests of the state’s population was the responsibility of the government, the CM said many videos were doing the rounds where the public was inconvenienced during protests. “Punjab has not experienced the inconvenience of the farmers’ agitation of 2020. We experienced it first hand and the public was put to a lot of inconvenience due to sealed borders. We cannot let them converge with tractor-trailers and ration,” he said.

Taking a dig at the Punjab Government, Khattar said the neighbouring state could take a cue from Haryana. “We give MSP for 14 crops, while Punjab does so for wheat, paddy and sugarcane. Let them learn from us,” he said, adding that this was one reason why Haryana farmers had distanced themselves from the agitation.

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