NRIs to hold car rallies in Canada to support farmers’ tractor march on Jan 26

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 25

To support the tractor rally announced by the protesting farmers in Delhi on Republic Day, Non Resident Indians (NRI) of Punjabi origin living in Canada have said that they would take out a car rally in Brampton and Calgary on January 26.

In Brampton, the car rally would start at 2.30 pm on January 26 from the Soccer Centre, 1495 Sandalwood Parkway E, to Indian Passport Office, 20 Gillingham, Brampton.

The rally will be supported by Sarokaran-di-Awaz, Alliance of Progressive Canadians, Disha – a women’s organisation, GTA West Club, Indo-Canadian Workers Association, Parvasi Punjabi Pensioners Association, Sirjanharian – a women’s group, Canadian Punjabi Sahit Sabha, ML Party of Canada, and Prof Mohan Singh Foundation.

The NRIs have also announced a ‘kisan rally’ from Calgary to Edmonton. The rally would start from the Cross Iron Mills Mall in Calgary at 9 am.

Calgary-based Paramjeet Singh said: “The Indian farmer community of Calgary will undertake a protest on January 26 to show absolute solidarity with farmers in India in their struggle with Indian Government for enacting draconian Farm Bills giving agricultural rights to allied corporates and rendering land owner farmers as mere tenants to work on their own lands for sowing/harvesting of farm produce.”

Indian farmers are protesting peacefully for the last several months by gathering in open spaces, facing all incremental auguries of climate, resulting in loss of several dozen precious human lives but Indian Government is still adamant on not repealing these Bills, he said.

Paramjeet Singh further said that they were moving to the provincial legislature with a request to convey their sentiments to the Government of Canada for taking up the matter at their level with the Indian Government for processing the matter urgently on logical and humanitarian grounds.

“Canadians having land holdings in India or with their near and dear ones among the farmers’ community have their own concerns about the farm laws, which have not been addressed yet,” he pointed out.

A few days ago, members of the Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI) came together to reject controversial Indian laws.

They burnt copies of the contentious Indian farm laws, Citizenship Amendment Act and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act outside the Indian visa and passport office in Surrey to mark the 92nd birth anniversary of US civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr.