No public harassment: CM sends out stern message

By detaining farmers and suspending striking revenue officials, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann tried to underline that his government “won’t allow any more public harassment” on the roads and in public offices.

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Reacting to the “unending public harassment” faced by the public due to absent tehsildars in their offices, and at the hands of farmers due to frequent protests, CM Mann called to the end the “anarchy”.

“My doors are open for you but don’t harass the public in the name of agitation,” a message from the CM read, seemingly underscoring his new approach seeking to make clear that he means business.

The timing of the message can be seen as a politically correct move in context of the current government completing nearly three years of its term.

Complaints of public harassment are piling up, particularly on the social media. Farmers and tehsildars, definitely, do not constitute the deciding factor in the state politics when compared with vote base other sections of society hold when put together.

Moreover, the farmer unity suffered a blow after farm leader Balbir Singh Rajewal and several others decided to contest the 2022 state Assembly poll, a move opposed by member bodies of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha that had spearheaded a year-long protest at the Delhi borders against the now-withdrawn three central farm laws.

The SKM (Non-Political), with Jagjit Singh Dallewal as its coordinator, emerged in July 2022. It stressed that farmers had nothing to do with politics.

In the ongoing agitation at the state’s border with Haryana, the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, with Sarwan Singh Pandher as its leader, is another strong voice.

Their major demands include a legal guarantee of the MSP. Meanwhile, despite several rounds of discussions to resolve the differences between the SKM (Non-Political) and the SKM, farmer unions continued to have separate ‘rail roko’ programmes and mahapanchayats.

Mann also saw how the strong farmer voice in neighbouring Haryana had almost been sidelined by voters in the last year’s Assembly poll.

The two states no longer have towering farmer leaders like former CM Parkash Singh Badal in Punjab and Devi Lal.

One wonders as to why there are so many farm groups in existence when their goal is the same? Interestingly, a senior officer pointed out that as per official records, Punjab has more than 60 farmer unions.

“A majority of these came up during the last farmer agitation when they got financial support from abroad and certain other sources,” he said.