CHANDIGARH: Ahead of 2027 assembly election in Punjab, AAP led Punjab is going to face five days protest from the farmers. The protest is set to begin from Monday outside the residence of Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Sandhwan and seven state cabinet ministers, including state party president Aman Arora.
The government is already facing growing protests from employees and pensioners. Thus the timing leaves the government with little political breathing space.
The action by Kisan Mazdoor Morcha signals turning of farmers’ agitation into a direct political confrontation with the ruling party as it has now decided to take its protest directly to the residences of ministers. This move will further escalate the farmers’ agitation and thus put direct political pressure on the government. As BKU Ekta Ugrahan (the largest farmers union of the state) has already started to gherao the minister since Saturday.
The immediate reason for the protest is the power crisis and fertiliser availability for the paddy crop. But the demands being pressed by the KMM are government procurement at MSP for basmati, maize, moong, mustard and potatoes.
They are also seeking a complete waiver of farm and agricultural labourers’ debt, along with compensation and government jobs for the families of farmers and labourers who died by suicide.
Also they will go beyond the immediate farm-season issues and cover others such as farm debt, river waters, land acquisition, drugs, unemployment and relations with the Central Government.
Other demands include a long-term policy to deal with floods, falling groundwater levels and pollution.
The farmers are also demanding resolutions in the state assembly against the Seed Act, 2025; Cooperative Societies Act, 2026; laws replacing MGNREGA; and the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2025. They have opposed prepaid electricity meters and seeking a resolution seeking the government’s categorical no for the India-US trade agreement.
They are also demanding the withdrawal of the Land Pooling Policy by the state government, opening the trade route via Wagah with Pakistan, and an end to forced land acquisition for the Bharatmala project.
Farmer leader Sarwan Pandher has warned that if the government does not seriously consider their demands and start talks, the KMM will decide on an intensified phase of the agitation at its meeting on September 16.
The decision to protest outside ministers’ homes is being seen as a significant escalation. The protests will be held outside the residences of Harbhajan Singh ETO in Jandiala, Aman Arora in Sunam, Lal Chand Kataruchak in Bhoa, Ravjot Singh in Hoshiarpur, Gurmeet Khuddian in Muktsar, Mohinder Bhagat in Jalandhar and Hardeep Mundian in Ludhiana. Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan’s residence in Faridkot will also be a centre of protest.
This escalation comes barely two weeks after the KMM held protests outside the offices of deputy commissioners in all 22 districts and a week after the seven-day protest by Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on the Chandigarh-Mohali border.
