Sangrur/Amritsar, Dec 27
Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi today addressed people in this year’s last ‘Mann ki Baat’, farmers clanged ‘thalis’ (plates) to protest the new agriculture laws in several parts of the state.
In Sangrur, state AAP chief Bhagwant Mann joined the farmers and demanded an immediate rollback of the contentious laws.
Satwinder Singh, a young farmer from Jhaneri village in Sangrur, said: “Our brothers and sisters have been protesting at Delhi borders for over a month, but the Central Government is not listening to them. Today we protested with utensils against the Prime Minister and his ‘Mann ki Baat’.”
In Amritsar also, ‘thalis’ were clanged at many villages during ‘Mann ki Baat’ to protest the agriculture laws. Protesters urged the Prime Minister to listen to their ‘Mann ki Baat’ for once and repeal the laws. Jamhoori Kisan Sabha leader Rattan Singh Randhawa said: “The sentiment of the public is against the new laws. Keeping in view the aspirations of the farming community, these laws should be repealed.” Farmer leaders stated that the PM as head of the government should try to listen to people instead of adopting an autocratic attitude. The farmers also organised events at different places in city where they beat ‘thalis’ and raised slogans against the government.
In Abohar, farmers and labourers organised a protest march, raised slogans and burnt the PM and corporate houses’ effigies.
Criticising BJP leaders for their attempts to defame farmers at Delhi borders, they appealed to petrol pump owners to remove flex boards that carried PM’s pictures and false claims about welfare of farmers and other people. They called upon the people to boycott all products and services by certain corporate giants.
In Khuyiansarwer village, a group of 30 farmers and labourers reportedly shut a phone tower. The closure of another phone tower in Pattisadiq village also stalled mobile services of a certain company in that area. Meanwhile, AAP activists today joined Kisan Morcha members in blocking a toll plaza near Dabli village on the Suratgarh highway. Hundreds of farmers in surrounding villages beat “thalis” during the PM’s programme.
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