BATHINDA: After talks with Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann remained inconclusive on Monday, farmer forum Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) said it would go ahead with its protests in Chandigarh from March 5, and blamed him for leaving them with no choice.
Farmers accused Mann of walking out of the meeting midway after acceding to some of the 18 demands. “The talks were progressing well but all of a sudden, the CM expressed the desire to leave, citing some issue with his eyes, and asked about our action plan for March 5,” the farmer forum said. They said when they remained silent for a while, the CM got angry and walked out of the meeting, saying “they could go ahead with the protests from March 5, making no mention of the “demands he had accepted”. .
The SKM, acting on a call given by its national committee, has called for an indefinite protest in Chandigarh from March 5, even though the administration has not yet allotted a site for the protest.
After coming out of the meeting, farmer leaders Joginder Singh Ugrahan and Balbir Singh Rajewal said, “Nearly half of the demands were discussed in nearly two hours. The CM suddenly asked us about the action plan for March 5, to which we did not reply immediately. He spoke angrily and even taunted us to hold the protest. We never expected such behaviour from the head of the state. Even though the CM was sympathetic towards some demands that were discussed, we will now go ahead with the protest.”
Rajewal said, “I have held meetings with various chief ministers and even at higher levels on a number of occasions but never witnessed such behaviour, it was like meting out insult to farmer leaders.”
Ugrahan said there was consensus on only one demand – to start cultivation of paddy officially from June 1. “The CM, however, said that if we go ahead with our protest for March 5, no demand will be considered accepted…It remains to be seen if we will be allowed to enter Chandigarh or we will be picked up from our homes before that,” he said.
Don’t block roads, rly tracks: CM
Urging representatives of SKM to refrain from holding protests by blocking roads or railway tracks, Mann posted on X, “During the meeting at Punjab Bhawan, I asked all esteemed leaders of the farmers’ unions to reconsider the approach of blocking roads, halting rail services, or imposing a shutdown in Punjab, as these actions do not provide solutions to the issues at hand. Such measures only serve to inconvenience the public. …”
