Mann-farmer spat: Latest flashpoint poses a fresh challenge for AAP govt

The Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government’s tough stance against Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s March 5 ‘pucca morcha’ (indefinite sit-in) at the state capital has become a latest flashpoint between the two sides and poses a fresh challenge for the state government to deal with the intensified farmer protests.

The SKM, a conglomerate of over 30 farm unions, is on collision course with the Mann government as it has been feeling ‘left out’ lately, especially after the SKM (Non-Political), headed by BKU (Sidhupur) chief Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Kisan Mazdoor Sangarh Committee president Sarwan Singh Pandher, hogging all the limelight. The Centre is engaged in talks with Dallewal and Pandher factions that has been spearheading protests at Shambu and Khanouri since February 2024.

“It’s a game of one-upmanship going on. As the next round of talks is scheduled for March 19, SKM leaders, who could not forge unity with the non-political unions, are looking to stay in the limelight by putting forward their state-specific demands,” says Jagrup Singh Sekhon, former head of the police science department Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

“There are more than 100 farm bodies who are fighting against the government and each other in groups, assuming themselves to be above law but actually they are perceived as outlaws,” he said.

“People in general have stopped liking the system of agitations as they are feeling hassled,” added Sekhon.

A meeting that went awry

On Monday, the farm bodies met the CM to discuss the “state-specific” demands and were resolute to stage a weeklong indefinite sit-in in Chandigarh from March 5. The CM, however, insisted them not to go ahead with the plan. Getting no response, Mann reportedly left the meeting abruptly, leaving the farm leaders upset.

“This is not the way to tackle a serious structural problem,” added Sekhon. Mann failed to handle the situation diplomatically and reportedly got engaged in heated exchanges with senior farm leaders, including Joginder Singh Ughrahan, head of BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan), the farm body that has largest support base, and Balbir Singh Rajewal, head of BKU (Rajewal). These leaders are founders of the farm politics in the region with a long history of protests.

Within hours after talks collapsed, the state government launched a crackdown and took several farm leaders, including Rajewal, were taken into preventive custody. Farm leaders whose houses were raided included Ugrahan, Raminder Singh Patiala, Buta Singh Burjgill and Harinder Singh Lakhowal. The SKM described the action as a “dictatorial step by the Bhagwant Mann government to “suppress the democratic rights of farmers for peaceful protest”.

According to Sekhon, the AAP, after defeat in Delhi polls, has panicked. “Both farmers and the government have suffered dip in the popularity and they must introspect,” he added.

State govt under fire

The constituents of SKM, particularly the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) faction, pose a formidable challenge as they comprise unions known for an aggressive protest culture.

During the two-day special assembly session last week, Punjab AAP president Aman Arora had appealed to farmer unions to lift the year-long protests at Shambhu and Khanauri borders, citing the loss of revenue to industries in Rajpura and adjoining areas.

In the session, the government passed a resolution rejecting the draft of the National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing as anti-farmers, extending an olive branch towards the farmers and hoping to persuade them not to protest, but in vain.

Farm bodies’ demands include declaring MSP on all crops as a legal guarantee, ownership rights to land tillers, unveiling of agriculture policy, one-time settlement of farm debt, purchase of crops such as basmati, maize, moong and vegetable on MSP and jobs and compensation for kin of farmers who lost lives during farm protest on borders of new Delhi in 2020-21.

The farm bodies say MSP on all crops was a pre-poll promise of the AAP, which is now back-tracking from it.

Fresh ammo for Opposition

With the budget session of the assembly session set to begin soon, the crackdown on farmer leaders has given a fresh ammunition to the Opposition to mount a scathing attack on the Mann government. Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Warring said farmers are not adversaries but the backbone of economy and the foundation of Punjab’s prosperity.

“Yet, instead of respecting their contributions, this government has resorted to arresting them. Is this how you treat those who feed the nation?” he questioned.

Farmers’ plan to set up a ‘pucca morcha’ in Chandigarh will be an acid test for the Mann government which completes its three years on March 16.