Media India Group – Online

There have been allegations as to why only Punjab and Haryana farmers protesting and not the farmers from rest of India? What do you have to say to that?

Any government, whenever they are challenged as the power holders, always try and condemn the movements and try to underestimate the force and the strength. It is very obvious that the Punjab and Haryana are at the forefront and there is a nucleus in these two states of the farmers movement today. But it is very clear that farmers’ organisations all over India came together as an alliance when there was a murderous attack on the farmers of Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh and that alliance now has more than 350 organisations, while the other alliances joining together has made it a strength of 500 organisations. And when the Punjab farmers have taken the struggle to the peak by not only challenging the rulers but also the corporates, it is very clear that this is the strategic decision that they have made and showed us a way out of the corporatisation that is taking a toll on every sector, including education, health and others. So, we support the Punjab farmers and we salute them but it is not that the moment is limited to that. Since August 9 onwards, even during lockdown, there have been more than 100,000 places where the agitation has taken place across the country.