Following the protest by farmers at ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’ scheduled to be held at Kaimla village of Karnal district on Sunday, the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal lashed out at the ruling BJP Government in Haryana for failing to resolve farmers’ grievances on three central agriculture laws.

The opposition also attacked the Haryana Government for using tear gas and water cannons on farmers during the protest.

Former Chief Minister and leader of opposition in Haryana Assembly, Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that the Haryana Government should reach out to the farmers to resolve their issues. Such a situation should not have arisen if the government was serious about the welfare of farmers.

The law and order situation is already deteriorating in the state and the government should now make efforts that such incidents should not happen again and grievances of farmers are addressed, Hooda said while commenting on the protest held by farmers at the venue of mahapanchayat forcing the Chief Minister Manohar Lal to cancel the event.

The senior Congress leader said that the BJP Government should hold talks with the farmers so that this ongoing protest against agriculture laws ends at the earliest and farmers go back to their homes.

I demand that the Haryana Government should convene the State Assembly session for floor test as this government has lost the support of people, Hooda added.

Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja said that the protest of the Chief Minister’s ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’ by farmers in the village Kaimla shows how the State Government has lost the support of people.

The government itself is not getting the support of farmers in Chief Minister’s home district. If this is the situation in the home district of the Chief Minister, the protest against this government in other areas of the state can be easily guessed. The political ground of this government is completely gone, Selja said.

She also demanded a convening assembly session with immediate effect on the issue of farmers and the government should gain confidence motion.

The MLAs in the government are withdrawing support from this government and they are also raising their voice against the government, she added. Selja added instead of repealing the anti-agriculture black laws, the government is constantly pretending in the name of negotiations. The government has been calling farmers again and again for discussions.

Millions of farmers have been calling for the abolition of black laws on Delhi’s borders from the last 46 days. More than 60 farmers have sacrificed their lives in this bitter cold-rain, but it had no effect on the government, she said.On January 15, the Haryana Congress will gherao the Raj Bhavan in support of farmers against these anti-black agriculture laws, she added.

SUKHBIR CONDEMNS POLICE REPRESSION AGAINST HARYANA FARMERS

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Sunday strongly condemned ‘the wanton and brutal repression’ unleashed by the BJP Government in Haryana against peacefully and democratically protesting farmers.

 In a statement here, Sukhbir said that the “arrogant and power-drunken” response of  Haryana’s BJP  Government clearly showed that this party and its governments at the centre and in the states are full of hatred for the farmers and have no intention at all of resolving the crisis created by the passage of three Acts on marketing of the farmers’ produce.”

“ It is shocking that no effort was made at all by those in power in Haryana to talk to the farmers who were protesting peacefully. Instead, they abused  ‘the might of the state’   to provoke and suppress democratic protests,” he said.

The SAD leader said that the police repression including the use of water cannons  showed how insensitive the BJP has become to the plight of the farmers.

 The Akali leader also came down heavily against the Punjab BJP leaders for their  “highly provocative statements and acts”  against the peacefully agitating farmers, and asked the  BJP leaders to refrain from disturbing the hard earned atmosphere of peace in Punjab.

“The Punjab unit of BJP is rubbing salt in farmers’ wounds. I fail to understand this party’s overall mind set against farmers. On the one hand, they are inviting farmers for talks while on the other they are provoking them through protests and provocative acts against them,” he added.