Hundreds of cops summoned across Malwa to thwart Chandigarh march

The preparations for the crackdown on state farmer leaders had started around Monday midnight as soon as their talks with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann broke down, according to senior officials.

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An official said hundreds of police personnel were summoned to Police Lines in the Malwa region of Punjab and briefed about the raids to be conducted under a meticulously planned two-hour operation from around 3 am to 5 am to “arrest, detain and round up” farm union leaders.

By sunrise, the police managed to detain hundreds of farmers across the region even as farm union leaders remained adamant on undertaking their protest march to Chandigarh.

The police action came after “livid” Mann left the meeting with the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) leaders midway, accusing them of “trying to halt” the state’s development by staging protests.

The meeting was held ahead of the SKM’s scheduled week-long sit-in in Chandigarh from March 5.

The SKM is an umbrella body of farm unions that had spearheaded a year-long protest in 2020-21 at the Delhi border points against the Union government’s now-scrapped three agriculture laws.

The grouping is demanding the cancellation of FIRs registered against farmers during the 2020-21 protests, implementation of a new agriculture policy, proper supply of DAP fertiliser and seeds, and a debt waiver scheme.

A senior police officer said additional force was also deployed in many districts to tackle any possible challenge to the law and order situation in the wake of the crackdown on state farm unions.

“We got orders in early hourly hours on Tuesday. Additional police teams were deployed in several districts, where senior superintendents of police were briefed about it. We detained several farm leaders as a preventive measure,” the police officer said.

The officer said several farm leaders might try to reach Chandigarh through alternate routes though different modes of transportation, including buses.

“We are keeping a close watch on the situation and the police personnel have been alerted in many districts around Chandigarh and Mohali,” he said.

The police said five farmer leaders of the Bharti Kisan Union (Krantikari), BKU (Lakhowal) and the Satnam Behru group were detained in Patiala.

Meanwhile, several leaders in Barnala, Faridkot, Sangrur, Bathinda, Mansa and Patiala — all falling in the Malwa region — went into hiding and switched off their mobile phones to evade arrests.

‘Won’t yield to govt tactics’

“Raids are being conducted to scuttle our protest. Over a dozen buses are waiting to detain me and my supporters. We will not submit to the government pressure and will proced with our protest in Chandigarh,” said BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) leader Joginder Singh Ugrahan.

“Let the Punjab Government do whatever it wants. The protest will take place as scheduled,” he added.

Meanwhile, the police and the Rapid Action Force held flag marches at several places in Patiala.

Credit war among farm bodies hurting state financially: Mann

Mohali: Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said a credit war is going on among the various farmers unions, who are “trying to create anarchy by running a parallel government”.

He reiterated that the government is always ready to resolve the issues pertaining to various sections of society through negotiations.

However, Mann said the inconvenience to the common man through rail or road blockades must be avoided.

“Unfortunately, the common man had to suffer a lot due to such protests, which is totally unwarranted and undesirable,” the CM said, adding that though holding a protest was a democratic right of farmers, they should also think that this action was bringing huge financial losses to the state. — TNS