Women farm activists from Punjab headed for Delhi stopped at Ambala

Jalandhar, May 28

Almost 500 members, predominantly women, of the Kisan Mazdoor Sanghrash Committee (KMSC) headed to Delhi in support of protesting wrestlers were stopped at Ambala by the Haryana Police.

Tents uprooted

• Almost 500 members, predominantly women, of KMSC were stopped at Ambala by the Haryana Police
• They alleged their tents were uprooted by the police after which they erected it again and sat on a dharna and raised slogans

Angered farmers sat on dharna near the Manji Sahib Gurdwara. They alleged their tents were uprooted by the police after which they erected it again and sat on a dharna at the site and raised slogans against the Centre.

Unable to make it further from the site despite a day-long dharna, the farm activists were forced to return to Punjab on Sunday evening.

Speaking on the issue, KSMC state president Sukhwinder Singh Sabhra, said, “We had come with a huge jatha to lend support to our country’s protesting wrestlers in a response to a call by them for May 28. We had plans to head towards Jantar Mantar when we were stopped by a heavy cordon of police personnel on the road outside the Manji Sahib Gurdwara in Ambala.”

“The Centre has adopted a very callous stance on an issue of women’s respect. Brij Bhushan should have been arrested by now and the women wrestlers’ demands should have been met, after which they should have been honourably sent back home. We register our strongest protest and condemnation on the Centre’s attitude towards the country’s best wrestlers.”