Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur) president Jagjit Singh Dallewal's fast unto death to press various demands of farmers entered its fifth day on Wednesday.
Dallewal began his fast on Saturday in Faridkot to press for enhanced compensation for land acquired for national highway projects, compensation for crop damage due to inclement weather and pest attack and rolling back of heavy fines imposed for stubble burning. Speaking to reporters at the protest site in Faridkot earlier in the day, Dallewal said, "Even if I die, I appeal to farmers to carry out their protests in a peaceful manner."
He said his weight loss, fluctuation in blood pressure and low blood sugar level were not weighing on his mind at the moment. "I am not thinking about these things. We are here so that the government should issue a notification for the demands they had already accepted and meet some more demands such as rolling back of red entries and heavy fines for burning crop stubble," he said.
A medical team has been stationed at the protest site to monitor the farmer leader's health. Doctors attending to Dallewal had earlier said that his blood sugar level was low. The district administration and senior police officials have been trying to persuade Dallewal to end his fast.
Dallewal also demanded that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann apologise to farmers for his remarks against them. Mann had slammed the farmers' unions on Friday last for frequently blocking roads in Punjab as part of their protests. Hitting back, Dallewal had then said that if their sit-ins were wrong, then why did AAP leaders join the protests against the farm laws at the Delhi borders.
He had earlier accused the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of acting like the BJP did during the farmers' stir against the farm laws. Farmers were compelled to stage sit-ins on roads in Punjab after their protests outside the offices of deputy commissioners did not yield any positive response from the state government, he had said.
The farmers' protests over their demands entered its eighth day on Wednesday. The BKU (Ekta Sidhupur) is spearheading the protests in Amritsar, Mansa, Patiala, Faridkot and Bathinda in Punjab.
Meanwhile, on the call of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, activists of various farmer organisations on Wednesday staged demonstration and burnt the effigies of Chief Minister Mann. In Hoshiarpur district, activists of the Kisan Mazdoor Union-Garhdiwala led by their president Jujhar Singh and activists of the Pagri Sambhal Lehar led by their state convenor Satnam Singh Bagria staged a demonstration and burnt the effigies of the chief minister in front of the tehsil complex in Garhdiwwala and outside the Sugar Mill Mukerian, respectively.
They also raised slogans against the chief minister and the Punjab government. At a few places in Haryana, including in Sonipat and Hisar, farmers burnt Bhagwant Mann's effigies over his recent remarks against farmers. (Agencies)
