Dallewal vows fight to finish, asks farmers of other states to join stir
A massive gathering marked the ‘kisan mahapanchayat’ at the Khanauri protest site on the Punjab-Haryana border today as Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-political) leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, on the 40th day of his indefinite hunger strike, vowed to continue the agitation until the Centre provided a legal guarantee on the minimum support price for crops.
During his 11-minute address, Dallewal appealed to farmer outfits in other states to launch a similar fight for the MSP to send across a message to the Centre that it wasn’t Punjab’s struggle alone.
The 70-year-old, who underwent tests last night (photo inside) and was declared “stable”, asserted that regardless of whether he survived or not, the agitation was “bound to succeed”. “This is a do-or-die battle. I will not end my fast till an Act guaranteeing the MSP for crops is enacted. We want a legal guarantee as per the recommendations of the parliamentary committee (on agriculture),” said Dallewal, addressing the crowd from a bed placed inside a makeshift cubicle on the stage. He said he was more concerned about the livelihood of farmers than own health. “I understand providing a legal guarantee on the MSP is difficult, but that doesn’t mean we should do nothing about it,” he said, urging farmers to send to Khanauri one tractor-trailer full of supporters from every village in Punjab.
Protest causing loss to Punjab, sikhs: Tikait
Hisar: Samyukt Kisan Morcha leader Rakesh Tikait kicked up a row on Saturday saying while the Centre was ‘benefiting’ from the ongoing stir at the Khanauri-Shambhu border, it was causing a loss to the Punjab Government and the Sikh community. He was speaking at SKM’s “kisan mahapanchayat” in Tohana.
Chouhan defends MSP regime
The Centre has defended its MSP regime saying the BJP-led NDA had strengthened price remuneration mechanisms for farmers. At a review of the ministry with state counterparts on Saturday, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said there was a provision for the MSP on many crops so that farmers got the right price for their produce. Hailing farmers for hard work, he said foodgrain production was 265.05 MT in 2013-14, which had increased to 328.85 MT in 2023-24.
A stampede-like situation was witnessed when Dallewal was brought to the stage. While women bowed in “reverence”, youths jostled to click photographs of the farmer leader, whose health is on the decline. Some climbed trees along the roadside to catch a glimpse of him.
Chaos also erupted on the highway as people drove in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Several buses that were headed to Haryana could be seen driving over dividers to avoid getting caught in the snarl-up.
Last evening, Dallewal agreed to undergo blood, urine and ECG tests. It was only after his reports confirmed his vitals were stable that he was carried to the stage in an ambulance around 2 pm. Bringing Dallewal to the stage amid cold weather was a challenge too as his blood pressure was fluctuating, said a farmer leader. A doctor said he vomitted while being carried back to his tent after his address as his blood pressure dropped.
The ‘mahapanchayat’, which was organised by the SKM (Non-political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, was the fourth major show of strength by farmers in less than a month. Intense confrontations had occurred at Shambhu, the other site of the farmers’ protest, on December 6, 8 and 14 when paramilitary and Haryana Police personnel used tear gas to halt the Delhi march of the protesters. The farmers have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points since February 13 last year after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.
Sarwan Singh Pandher, the coordinator of both the farm groups, claimed that more than one lakh people had gathered for the ‘mahapanchayat’. He said on January 10, effigies of the Central Government would be burnt across the country while on January 6, the Parkash Utsav of Guru Gobind Singh would be celebrated at the Shambhu border.
