CHANDIGARH: Flushed with success in forcing the Centre to rollback the three contentious farm sector laws, farmers will now press the Punjab government to honour the Congress promise made in 2017 on complete debt waiver for tillers.
They intend to start an indefinite protest if the government fails to implement it. The estimated size of Punjab’s farm debt Rs 1.25 lakh crore.
On the flip side, the bar imposed by farmer unions on election campaigning in villages is now off. Punjab will go to polls along with four other states in just a few months.
Talking to this newspaper, BKU leader Harinder Singh Lakhowal said, “The state government has already accepted most of our demands but the main one on debt waiver is still pending. Once we reach home, farmer unions will hold individual and collective meetings and give the state government an ultimatum to waive off loans as promised by the Congress before it came to power in 2017. If they fail to do so, we will not allow their candidates, leaders and party workers to enter villages for campaign.”
Another farmer leader Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan said they will call a state-level meeting of their union after returning home from Delhi and decide on the strategy to pressure the Channi government to waive off farm loans.
“Political leaders can enter villages for campaigning, but we will give them set of questions to help us make an informed choice on which party to vote,’’ he added.
A third leader, Omkar Singh, echoed them.
“We will hold meetings to build pressure on debt waiver in Punjab,’’ he said.
Preparations are afoot in Punjab to accord a rousing welcome to farmers returning home from Delhi borders after ending their year-long agitation against the Centre's three new farm laws.
Families of farmers along with fellow villagers at many places in Punjab, which had once remained the epicentre of the farmers' agitation, will prepare 'ladoos', 'jalebis', 'barfi' and other sweets to welcome them, farmer leaders said on Friday.
Besides farmers from Haryana will also honour their fellow cultivators from the neighbouring state, they said.
"We are getting invites from Haryana farmers and khaps for honouring us at different toll plazas in Haryana," Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan said.
Several farmers who remained part of the protests at the Delhi borders were busy decorating their tractors with flowers and other items, he said.
People will start returning to their homes in Punjab Saturday morning, Ugrahan added.
Farmers owing allegiance to BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) have planned programmes at Khanauri (Punjab) and Dabwali (Haryana) to give a grand welcome to the cavalcade of farmers, said BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan.
He said the returning farmers will be welcomed to 'dhol' beats.
The farmers have also planned to visit Golden Temple on December 13 to pay obeisance.
Kokrikalan said the protests going on at various places, including toll plazas, petrol pumps, shopping malls and outside the residences of BJP leaders, will be lifted on December 15.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of 40 farm unions, on Thursday had decided to suspend the farmers' movement against the three contentious farm laws and announced that farmers will go back home on December 11 from the protest sites on Delhi's borders.
The announcement came after the SKM, which is spearheading the movement, received a central government signed letter where it agreed to consider their pending demands, including withdrawal of cases against farmers and form a committee on minimum support price (MSP).
Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, started protesting at Delhi border points on November 26 last year against the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
These laws were recently repealed.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) will honour the farmer leaders upon their arrival to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple here.
The decision along with other important ones was taken during the SGPC's executive committee meeting chaired by SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami here on Friday.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Dhami said the SGPC will be honouring the farmer leaders on December 13 at the information centre of the Golden Temple.
"The SGPC has supported the farmers during the 'kisan sangharsh' (farmers' struggle) and would continue to stand firm with them in future also," said Dhami.
About the other decision, he said simple 'langar' would be served by the SGPC to commemorate the martyrdom fortnight of the 'sahibzadas' of Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Guru, from December 21 to 30.
"During this period, sweets will not be made in 'langar' inside every gurdwara. Martyrdom fortnight is very emotional for Sikhs and it is important to practice the spirit of the history of these days," he said.
'Jaap' (recitation of Gurbani) would be done during the fortnight in commemoration of 'sahibzadas' and other martyrs, Dhami added.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of 40 farm unions, on Thursday had decided to suspend the over a year-long farmers' movement against three contentious farm laws and announced that farmers will go back home on December 11 from the protest sites along Delhi's borders.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday said the state government will welcome "the sons of the soil" on their "victorious" return from the Delhi borders.
Congratulating farmers, farm labourers and the Samyukt Kisan Morcha leaders, the CM said it was a victory of the people, and that the unity of various sections of the society forced the Modi government to roll back the "draconian black laws".
Channi said even though they did not pay any heed to the demands of the farmers for almost a year, the BJP leaders now wanted to "encash the victory of the farmers" and were trying to use it as an electoral card in Punjab.
The CM said farmers and people of the nation will never forgive the Modi government and its leaders for testing their patience for more than one year.
He said it was not an easy victory for farmers as more than 700 of them sacrificed their lives during the agitation.
Channi said the government has always stood by the farmers and labourers and extended every possible help to them in their "historic" and "noble" cause.
He said the government has given jobs and financial assistance to the family members of around 350 farmers who lost their lives during the agitation and the remaining families will also be compensated soon.
The SKM, an umbrella body of 40 farm unions, on Thursday decided to suspend the over a yearlong farmers' movement against three contentious farm laws and announced that farmers will go back home on December 11 from protest sites on Delhi's borders.
The announcement came after the SKM received a central government signed letter where it agreed to consider their pending demands, including withdrawal of cases against farmers and formation of a committee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP).
(With PTI Inputs)