Agitators allege Centre of belittling the movement - Protesting farmers to take stand on govt’s open invitation

Farming community feels the contents of the invite have not created a conducive atmosphere

Elderly farmers offer prayers in a tractor-trolley at Singhu Border, in New Delhi : PTI

---

Anita Joshua   |   TT   |   New Delhi   |    23.12.20   :   The Sanyukta Kisan Morcha, the banner under which farmers are protesting against the three farm laws, is expected to take a stand on Wednesday on the government’s open invitation for talks but the farming community feels the contents of the invite have not created a conducive atmosphere.

Matters have not been helped by the unabated effort by the government or those associated with it to misrepresent facts, which the farmers view as an attempt at belittling their movement.

Delhi police also denied permission to hold an event to pay tribute to Chaudhary Charan Singh, a crusader for agrarian rights and former Prime Minister whose cremation site in the capital is known as Kisan Ghat.

In the latest instance, the Kisan Ekta Morcha, an online platform of the protest, has called out the BJP’s Punjab unit for using the photograph of Hoshiarpur-based actor, director and photographer Harpreet Singh in a poster. The poster seeks to highlight the measures taken by the government on the minimum support price this financial year.

But Harpreet himself is participating in the protests and pointed out the “misrepresentation” by the BJP. His Twitter timeline, under the name Harp Farmer, is filled with photographs of him with the protesters and endorsing their actions.

On Wednesday, the farmers have given a call for skipping lunch to observe Kisan Diwas — the birth anniversary of Chaudhary Charan Singh.

Delhi police have cited the pandemic as the reason for refusing permission to the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) to organise a memorial function at Kisan Ghat.

The party had sought permission on December 16 to organise an event at the site for three hours with only 50 people present as mandated by Covid guidelines but Delhi police on Tuesday denied permission.

Tweeting out the response, RLD vice-president and former MP Jayant Chaudhary said: “Hume great leader se Chaudhary Sahab ke jayanti par shraddhanjali dene ki anumati nahi mili hai. #NewIndia ka loktantra!! (We have not got permission to pay tribute to Chaudhary Sahab from the great leader. Democracy in #New India!!”)

The farmers’ unions from Punjab met on Tuesday to take a stand on the government’s invitation. Those privy to the conversation say there was considerable disappointment over the manner in which the Narendra Modi government had dealt with the issue.

Apart from the fact that the central government has turned a deaf ear to their core demand for the repeal of the three laws, the farmers are particularly upset with the allegations levelled against them about being a Khalistani front and the high-handedness of the Haryana government, which continues to stop protesters from moving towards Delhi.