Youths go full throttle in protest against farm Bills

Avneet Kaur
Jalandhar, September 25

The state-wide bandh call given by the farm organisations today over three farm bills that were passed in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, recently, received an overwhelming support from youngsters who were seen dominating the agitations with their participation.

#Isupportfarmers was all over social media

• People from all walks of life have extended their support to Punjab-bandh and farmers against the agriculture bills both offline and online. Those who cannot throng roads to participate in the protests were seen uploading pictures with #I support Farmers. Be it Facebook, groups or individual accounts, people were seen putting up a badge of ‘I support Farmers’ on their display pictures.
• “These farm Bills are an open invitation to big corporate houses in agriculture and they will ultimately capture the land and agricultural market,” said Inderpreet Kaur, who posted a series of tweets and posts on her Facebook account under #Isupportfarmers tagline. She said, “We must stand together and support farmers in this collective fight.”

Scores of school and college going students, under the leadership of youth leaders, belonging to different political parties attended the protests organised today at various locations in city including- Pathankot-Jalandhar bypass, PAP, Ravidas Chowk and among other places. Moreover, the youngsters also helped the farmer organisations by posting on their social media accounts for live updates.

“This is for the first time that the youths in the city have been actively participating and thronging the protest sites. They have not only given a great response to the bandh call today, but have also been regularly participating in the protests and supporting farmers against the contentious farm legislations,” said, Youth Congress President Angad Dutta, adding that of the total gathering at protest sites today, almost 40 per cent was youth.

The protest witnessed the participation of not only youngsters belonging to the farming community, but also from those belonging to the teaching field, unemployed men and women and students and research scholars who came out in large numbers and held bike rallies across the city, said Dutta.

Vikram Singh, an engineering student, who was spotted capturing the protest live on Facebook, at the Ravidas Chowk here, said, “I do not belong to any political party or organisation, I am here for the ‘Annadata’ (farmers) of our state. I, along with a few of my friends, decided to participate in the protests today with the sole motive of making the city residents aware of the plight of farmers in the state via social media,” he said, adding that despite Covid-19, the farmers are out on roads. The fact is they are not protesting just for their rights, rather, these laws are harmful for every citizen of India, and it will force us to buy even the cheapest farm produce in almost four times of the cost of its production.

He further said technology plays a crucial role in getting huge response from people. Thus, it is time that we all stood together against these draconian laws and show the people in power, the strength and unity among the youths.

Another youth Paramjit, a resident of Maqsudan, said, “Though my parents were scared and asked me not to participate in the protest fearing any untoward situation, I assured them that it was not an individual matter, but it belonged to every Indian who is a part of the democracy,” he said, adding, “We should not simply sit inside our homes accepting injustice with the farming community, we must raise our voices.

Meanwhile, Balwinder Kumar, General Secretary, Bahujan Samaj Party, Jalandhar, said hundreds of BSP supporters and youth across the region came on streets against the three farm Bills, passed recently.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.