New Delhi: On the day of Bharat Bandh tomorrow, some services, including the supply of fruits and vegetables, could get affected in Delhi and the rest of the country.
Farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said in a press conference here that the central government will have to accept the demands of the farmers to withdraw the new laws. The agitating farmers have announced that they will close the toll plazas between 11 am and 3 pm during ‘Bharat Bandh’.
President of the Bharatiya Kisan Ekta Sangathan Jagjit Singh Dallewala appealed to the farmers not to quarrel with anyone to maintain peace and enforce the bandh. Rajewal said, “Modi government will have to accept our demands. We will not accept anything less than the withdrawal of new agricultural laws. “
“The protest is to show that we don’t support some of the policies of the government,” Bharatiya Kisan Union Spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said.
Unions have said their protest is “peaceful and will continue that way”. The protesting farmers have urged people to extend their support non-violently and said their protest was not meant to cause problems for the common man.
“Tomorrow’s Bharat Bandh is from 11 am to 3 pm. It is a symbolic protest. We will begin at 11 am so everyone can reach office on time. Services such as ambulance, even weddings, can go on. People can show their card and leave,” Tikait said.
Yesterday, Congress had also expressed its whole-hearted support to the ‘Bharat Bandh’ called on December 8 by farmer unions.
The representatives of thousands of agitating farmers have said their call for a ‘Bharat Bandh’ on December 8 would be observed with full force.
Coming out in support of the farmers, the Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera while addressing the media at the AICC headquarters said, “I would also like to announce that the Congress party extends its whole-hearted support to the Bharat Bandh on December 8.”
Protests are underway at both the Singhu and Tikri borders, where farmers had gathered from Punjab and Haryana for more than 10 days.
The protesting farmers and the centre will meet for the sixth round of talks on Wednesday as the successive rounds of talks failed to bring out any conclusive results.
After the Saturday’s meeting, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had said that a new proposal would be placed before the farmers after discussions within the government.
The centre has offered to amend sections of the laws, but the farmers, thousands of whom are camped out around Delhi’s borders and have threatened a blockade of the national capital – insist they must be scrapped.
