CHANDIGARH: Punjab stands solidly with the farmers as their call for Bharat Bandh got support from all sections of the society, including government employees, teachers and lawyers.
Support also came in from the intelligentsia as well as professors and the non-teaching staff of Punjabi University. Petrol pumps, hotels and restaurants will remain closed in Punjab on Tuesday.
Even khaps in neighbouring Haryana have extended support to the bandh call. Punjab DC Office Employees’ Union state president Om Parkash said government staff will proceed on one-day mass leave in support of the farmers’ unions.
Punjabi University Teachers’ Association has decided to shut the university gates and hold a protest. In a separate call, students associated with PSU (Lalkar), AISF, PSU and SFI have also chalked a similar plan.
The Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana High Court has requested all the advocates in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh to abstain from work in all the courts including the high court.
Meanwhile, Dr Rajbans Singh Gill, president of Sikh Intelligentsia Forum, said the intellectuals of Punjab will participate in the bandh in large numbers.
Petrol Pump Dealers Association president Paramjit Singh announced all gas stations would remain closed from 8AM to 6PM. Fuel will only be given to emergency vehicles, he added.
In a statement, the Hotel and Restaurant Association stated that all hotels, restaurants, resorts and bars in Punjab will remain closed barring marriage and banquet which were booked earlier.
The Left-backed All India Students' Association (AISA) and All India Students Federation (AISF) called upon students from across the country to join the Tuesday shutdown.
"For the past 10 days, millions of peasants are sleeping on different borders of Delhi in chilling cold and have taken up the battle against the policies that would put them in the bondage of contractors and big corporates. They are demanding the rollback of agricultural laws, scrapping of Electricity Amendment Bill 2020 and legislating the demand of MSP."
"Hence, it is necessary that we, the student community stand shoulder to shoulder with the farmers of our country," they said in a joint statement.
The signatories to the statement included member of the Students Federation of India (SFI), the Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI), JNU Students Union President Aishe Ghosh, students of Gujarat and Hyderabad Central University, among others.
The JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA) has also expressed solidarity with the agitating farmers.
"While standing in solidarity with the farmers tomorrow, the 8th of December also happens to be the day of elections of teacher representatives to the Executive Council in JNU.
This election is an important milestone in JNU's struggle to preserve the democratic traditions of teaching and learning in JNU.
"Keeping in mind the importance of the day, we expect JNU faculty to show up in big numbers. In saluting the farmers who have waged a heroic struggle on the borders of Delhi, JNUTA calls upon all its members to support the strike in every possible way," the JNUTA said in a statement.
"The government is cleverly hiding the fact this provision would only benefit the corporates and rich farmers, since even before such a provision the small-marginal farmers owing to the lack of storage and transportation facilities had to make distress sale of their produce.
The distress sale by small-marginal farmers would intensify with the current provision," student outfit Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) said in a statement.
"Our activists would be participating in the Bharat Bandh call across the states of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh," it added.
The Federation of Central University Teachers Association (FEDCUTA) said in a statement, "As a socially responsible teachers community, we cannot be silent bystanders. Teachers understand the pain of being branded and maligned as anti-nationals, when what one is doing is one's sacred duty to the cause of democracy and for the advancement of our country's future."
(With PTI Inputs)