Today, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann confronted the state’s farmer unions for holding the state government to ransom by blocking highways and conducting dharnas to demand their demands be met—something no other Chief Minister in the state had ever done. He charged that some farmer organisations had organised dharnas for “financial concerns.”
“Blocking roads and stopping the smooth flow of traffic is not good. It is becoming a trend to hold dharnas at the drop of a hat. People are getting inconvenienced. So far there is public sympathy with you, you will lose it if the public is inconvenienced by your actions. It is your right to hold democratic protest, please do it outside the house of MLAs/ ministers or at DC office,” he said.
CM Mann attacked some of the farmer unions harshly, claiming that some of them only stage protests to make their presence known.
Stage dhrna to meet government and then to seek fund: Mann
“Some of them, not all, have done advance bookings of dharnas. They first stage dharna seeking a meeting with government… then after the meeting they do it to seek funds and they even have to show that the money collected is utilised,” he said.
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His remarks are crucial because they also mark the end of the AAP and farmer unions’ previous cosy alliance. When the CM’s statement was made public, the farmer unions fought him. The BKU EKTA Sidhupur-led dharna in Amritsar has intensified, and the area around Kathunangal has been entirely sealed off by it.
Following five dharnas held by various farmer unions throughout the state—at Amritsar (Kathunangal), Faridkot Tehna T point, close to Mukerian Sugar Mill, Dhareri Toll Plaza in Patiala, and Talwandi Sabo—the chief minister made a stern speech. The common man is inconvenienced by these dharnas, and the AAP government’s unwillingness to address this problem has drawn criticism from the populace.
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