Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 27: Normal life was affected, particularly in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana, on Monday as the agitating farmers blocked the highways and rail lines disrupting train services in response to the day-long “Bharat Bandh” call for which was given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha to observe the first anniversary of the day the President had given his assent to the three contentious farm laws.
In many cities and towns, agricultural markets remained closed and the Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait at the end of the bandh call at 4 P.M. claimed that the “bandh” was highly successful and millions of farmers and their sympathisers had responded to the call. “Our Bharat Bandh was successful. We had the full support of farmers…We can’t seal down everything as we have to facilitate the movement of people. We are ready for talks with the government but no discussions are happening,” Tikait said.
National and state highways in several districts, including Amritsar, Rupnagar, Jalandhar, Pathankot, Sangrur, Mohali, Ludhiana, Ferozepur, Bathinda, were blocked by the protesters.
Vehicular movement was disrupted in several parts of Jharkhand as supporters of the Bharat Bandh blocked roads and highways. Shops were shut in state capital Ranchi, while government offices and banks functioned as usual. Farmers took out rallies on the major roads and held meetings.
The SKM is a platform of farm unions which joined hands to protest the laws, whose members marched to the borders of Delhi in the tens of thousands 10 months ago to demand that the three laws be repealed. Their call for a Bharat Bandh between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Monday was supported by major political parties including the Congress, the left parties, Akali Dal, YSR Congress, Trinamool, Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Trade unions and transport unions also backed the bandh in some parts of the country, though some declined to shut down business even while offering “moral support” to the farmers.
The SKM termed the response ‘unprecedented’ around midday. “Farmers are on the streets for 10 months, but the blind and deaf government neither sees nor hears anything. In a democracy, there is no other option but to protest. We insist that if there is bill wapsi [repeal of the laws], then only there will be ghar wapsi [return home],” Tikait said.
Vehicular movement was disrupted on national and State highways in most parts of Punjab and Haryana, with hardly any public transport, buses or taxis seen on the roads. Shops and commercial establishments were closed in many parts of the two States which make up the largest mass of the protesting unions, though the situation was normal in their joint capital Chandigarh.
Train tracks were blocked at more than 20 locations in the northern zone, with the Railways saying at least 25 trains were affected in the morning. There were also reports of train tracks being blocked at some locations in Bihar and West Bengal.
In the national capital, there were massive traffic snarls at Gurugram and Ghazipur as Delhi’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
The national trade unions held a solidarity protest in Jantar Mantar. Speaking on the sidelines of an event, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged the Centre to consider the farmers’ demands. “Bhagat Singh, [whose birth anniversary is being celebrated], did not fight for freedom for the day when farmers have to sit on the streets and protest for a year to get their demands considered,” he said.
In Kerala, the bandh was complete in most parts of the State with a full shutdown of normal life. There was a more lukewarm response in Karnataka, with some protesters detained in Bengaluru. Heavy rain in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh dampened protest activities, but the farmers’ cause was supported by most political parties, including the ruling YSRCP in AP, which suspended the State bus services and declared a school holiday. Farmer bodies staged protests in parts of Tamil Nadu as well.
Markets were shut and public transport stayed off the roads in Odisha and Jharkhand. The RJD and the Congress workers blocked roads and rail tracks in parts of Bihar. Rallies were held in parts of Rajasthan, with train services affected in border districts. There was little impact on normal life in Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and some other states.
Commercial establishments and local transport were operating as usual and normal life remained unaffected across Maharashtra even as various non-BJP parties held demonstrations and bike rallies in parts of the state in support of the Bharat Bandh called by farmer unions against the Centre’s three agri laws, officials said. An APMC remained closed in Pune and a pro-farmers’ outfit staged a road blockage in Nagpur, while some protesters were detained at some places and later released, they said.
The effect of the bandh was felt the most around Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, the centre of the farm protests, and also in large pockets of Kerala, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha.
As farmers across the country held protests as part of the Bharat Bandh, the Congress on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to talk to agitating farmers and listen to their legitimate grievances. The Congress also alleged that instead of redressing the grievances of farmers, the government is trying to paint them as enemies of the country and that is why the farmers are protesting on the roads.
