India TV Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma
Several thousand farmers have been camping on the Haryana-Punjab border with about a thousand tractor-trolleys for two days. They all want to go to Delhi. On Tuesday, police fired tear gas shells, rubber bullets and water cannons at them. Farmers tried to break the barricade with a tractor. Dozens were injured from both sides in the clash. All four borders of Delhi have been sealed. There is tremendous tension on the border of Punjab-Haryana. Farmers pelted stones at Shambhu border due to which about two dozen people were injured.
Tear gas shells were also fired from the police side. More than two thousand soldiers are deployed at Shambhu border. Along with the police, paramilitary forces have also been deployed. Although the government has held two rounds of talks with farmer leaders, there was no result. Farmer organizations want that the government should immediately implement the MSP Guarantee Act, pension should be given to farmer laborers, all the loans of farmers should be immediately waived and the government should come out of the World Trade Organization, the farmers against whom cases were registered during the last movement. All of them should be taken back.
There are about twelve such demands. The government accepted some demands of the farmers and asked for some time to consider the remaining demands but the farmers are not ready to give time. Farmers are intent on encircling Delhi at any cost but the government does not want this to happen. This is the only dispute. Punjab Haryana High Court told the government that strictness with the farmers should be the last option and told the farmers that they should find a way out by negotiating with the government.
Although the farmers are saying that their movement is peaceful, but what is happening on the streets is violence. Now the question is who is provoking the farmers? Is there politics behind the farmers’ movement? These questions are being asked because as soon as the farmers showed their aggressive behavior on Tuesday, immediately everyone from Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Bhupendra Hooda, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Brinda Karat to Asaduddin Owaisi, put guns on the shoulders of the farmers and threatened the government. shoot at.
Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij, citing the report of the Intelligence Department, said that the farmers have more than one and a half thousand tractors which have ration for at least eight months, water, tents, quilts and mattresses. Farmers are in no mood to go back after talking and agitating. If the protesters reach Delhi, then they will remain stuck for months just as they had closed the borders of Delhi by blocking the roads last time.
That is why the government is trying to stop the protesters from reaching Delhi. That is why Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Arjun Munda went to Chandigarh and talked to farmer leaders. The government has also completed preparations. Even if somehow the farmers reach around Delhi via Haryana, arrangements have been made to ensure that they are not able to enter Delhi. Delhi’s Tikri Border, Singhu Border and Ghazipur Border have been sealed.
Last time during the farmers’ movement, Rakesh Tikait of Bharat Kisan Union had planted a stake on the Ghazipur border itself, so this time the police does not want to take any chances. UP farmer leader Rakesh Tikait is showing some restraint but his elder brother Bharatiya Kisan Union President Naresh Tikait said that if the government takes strict action with the farmers, the situation will worsen, the government will have to fulfill the promises that it has made. Were done during the last movement.
Rakesh Tikait is a farmer leader, hence he is entitled to speak, but suddenly leaders of Congress, Samajwadi Party and Left became active. From Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to Bhupendra Hooda, Deependra Hooda, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Pawan Kheda, all the leaders started speaking. Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter that farmer brothers, today is a historic day, farmers are food providers, you are coming to Delhi, we are with you.
Rahul Gandhi wrote that the first guarantee of Congress is to give their rights to the farmers, Congress will guarantee MSP to the farmers, since Rahul’s Nyaya Yatra is currently in Chhattisgarh, hence in Ambikapur Rahul Gandhi said that Modi government is doing injustice to the farmers, Only Congress can do justice to the farmers. Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav said that to win the elections, Modi had made big promises to the farmers, but if the promises are not fulfilled then Modi will have to suffer the consequences.
Left leaders are also happy with the farmers’ movement. CPM leader Brinda Karat said that what happened at Shambhu border was just a trailer, the real picture will be seen after February 16. AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi, sitting in Hyderabad, said that the farmers’ movement is the result of the failure of the Modi government, the government is treating the farmers as if they are infiltrators from another country.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said that farmers are adding new issues to their demands, yet the government is ready to talk on all issues, hence farmers should also work peacefully. There is a third party in this whole matter whose views are not being heard anywhere. This is the side of the common people. Lakhs of people are facing problems due to the farmers’ movement. Traders of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi are very worried.
Due to the agitation, roads are closed, internet is banned, businesses are coming to a standstill. Farmers should raise their demands and protest, no one should have any objection to this. But what is the intention behind this, it needs to be seen. Is the intention really the welfare of the farmers? Is it to benefit poor farmers? Or is the purpose of this movement to defame the Modi government before the elections?
Last time too, farmer leaders had staged a protest in Delhi before the elections, created an atmosphere for several months, but it had no impact on the hearts and minds of the people. Despite their expectations, Modi won the election. This time, most of the people who are leading the movement have come for political purposes. For the last two days, three ministers of the government have been talking to them continuously, but the farmer leaders are putting forth new demands every day and are putting forward such demands which cannot be accepted immediately by sitting at the negotiating table.
Farmers are saying that the government should come out of the WTO agreement. Now can the ministers sitting in Chandigarh fulfill this demand? Farmer leaders say that the loans of farmers across the country should be waived off immediately. Can the minister give immediate assurance of fulfilling this demand? That is why it seems that the farmer leaders have made up their mind and made preparations to surround Delhi and this was also visible during the protest today. This time most of the farmer leaders are from Punjab and it has been heard that the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab is giving full support to them. (Rajat Sharma)
Watch: ‘Aaj Ki Baat, With Rajat Sharma’ full episode of February 13, 2024
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