Farmers take out tractor march in Haryana

The Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni) on Saturday took out a tractor march in Rohtak, Sonepat, Jind, Hisar, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar and other parts of the state in support of protesting farmers on the Haryana -Punjab borders.

BKU president Gurnam Singh Charuni led the tractor march at Pehowa in Kurukshetra. Nearly 150 tractors participated in the march that started from the grain market, where the protesters raised slogans against the government.

In Sonepat, farmers, including women and girls drove tractors and kept two toll plazas – Jharauti and Bhigan, free for commuters for three hours. The queues of tractors were witnessed at the Gohana and Ganaur areas in Sonepat.

Charuni said that farmers of Haryana and Punjab are united and their demands are the same.

“The Union government in December 2021 promised us to give a minimum support price (MSP) guarantee to farmers and now they are taking a U-turn. In 2011, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was Gujarat’s chief minister and headed a financial committee consisting of chief ministers to analyse the Swaminathan Committee Report, he asked the then PM Manmohan Singh to give a legal guarantee on the MSP. Why is the centre now running away from giving a legal guarantee on the MSP?,” he added.

Charuni further said that all the farmer unions of Haryana and Khaps will gather at Kurukshetra on Sunday to decide further course of action.

On being asked about whether he would join the Punjab farmers’ stir, Charuni said that if they call him, he will go.

Charuni said that a ‘mahapanchayat’ of farm organisations, khap panchayats and other employee unions will be held on Sunday at Kurukshetra, where the further course of action will be decided.

“Our main focus is to strengthen the agitation in Haryana. The demands of the entire farming community are the same,” he added.

A woman farmer, Sheetal from Murthal in Sonepat said that the Haryana police had fired tear gas shells, and rubber bullets and used water cannons on innocent farmers camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders on February 13 and 14.

“If the Centre fails to accept their demands, the farmers from both Haryana and Punjab are ready for another big agitation. The women are also taking part in this protest. The Haryana Police has arrested innocent farmer leaders and booked them for attempted murder cases,” she added.

Rohtak BKU(Charuni) district president Raju Makrauli said that Punjab and Haryana farmers are agitating because they know that the mandis will be scrapped if the government does not give MSP on crops.

“If the government does not give guarantees on the MSP, our situation will be like farmers of Bihar, who were pushed as labourers from farmers due to the government’s poor policies,” he added.

Tractor marches were also organised at places of North Haryana including Ambala, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Karnal and other areas.