Due to the stance of Bhagwant Maan government on the peasant movement
The Aam Aadmi Party government of Punjab was chased by the Aam Aadmi Party government of Punjab on the night of 19 March on the day of March 19 on the issues like MSP’s legal guarantee. There was a wonderful view, on the one hand, the farmer leaders called after a meeting with Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan in Chandigarh were arrested and on the other hand police force and bulldozers broke on farmers on Shambhu and Khanouri border. Many questions started to arise from this. The Punjab Police did not spare the farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who has been on fast unto death for six months. More than 200 farmer leaders including Dallewal, Saravanjit Singh Pandher, Joginder Singh Ugarhan were arrested on the night of 19 March. Farmer leader reached Chandigarh for a third round of talks with Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Chauhan. In the absence of farmer leaders, the police broke up with heavy arrangements on the protesting farmers on the Shambhu and Khanouri border. The nests of farmers’ tents, tractor-trolleys were destroyed. At one time, the Bhagant Maan Sarkar had deployed police force and ambulances for the safety and healthcare of farmers.
Police action on farmers in Mohali, March 19
The sudden change of the AAP government in the farmers and their issues sitting on peaceful dharna from 13 February 2023 on Shambhu and Khanouri border has not only shocked the farmers, but from the Punjab Assembly to the Parliament. Both farmers and opposition are attackers. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge posted on X, “It seems, now two anti -farmer parties (BJP and AAP) are one. AAP and BJP are drunk and are responsible for this move against farmers. 62 crore farmers of the country will never forgive these anti -farmer parties.”
Seven Congress MPs from Punjab staged a sit -in outside Parliament. On March 21, on the first day of the budget session in the Punjab Assembly, Congress MLAs demonstrated fiercely to protest against this action. The Congress has accused Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of cheating farmers. Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Wading said that the government, which has become a sympathizer of farmers, is now running sticks on farmers itself. Congress leader Pargat Singh said that the AAP government led by Bhagwant Mann is now acting like BJP’s B-Tim. The United Kisan Morcha (SKM) and the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti have called it a betrayal of farmers.
Jasbir Singh, a farmer removed from the dharna on the Khanouri border, says, “We were sitting here for two years. The government assured us that our voice will be heard. But we were removed overnight and our leaders were picked up. It is a cheating on us.”
Young farmer Gurpreet Singh, who has been on Shambhu border for two years, says, “We had voted as the Aam Aadmi Party as the party of the farmers. But today the same government is running sticks against us. Now we have decided that let the next election come, we will teach them a lesson.”
Farmers who came out of Punjab for Delhi Cooch in February 2023 for major demands like MSP’s legal guarantee could not proceed from Shambhu and Khanouri border due to the fortification of Haryana Police. On these borders, the AAP government had left no stone unturned in open support of agitating farmers. Special wards were set up for the treatment of several protesting farmers in the hospital in Rajpura, 10-12 km from the picket site. A team of government doctors of Punjab was deployed for 24 hours to investigate the health of farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who was fasting.
For the past two years, the AAP government, who has been with farmers for the last two years, came to light on the very next day after meeting traders in Ludhiana on March 18, where the businessmen raised the issue of loss of crores to the business of Punjab due to the demonstrations of farmers. In a meeting with Kejriwal and Man, business organizations in Punjab’s industrial capital Ludhiana said that their transportation expenses have increased due to the dharna on the border of farmers. The journey from Ludhiana to Delhi used to take place in the first 5 hours, now it was happening in 10 hours. Due to this, the delivery of goods was getting late but trade in Punjab has also decreased. The MSME sector was talking about a loss of about Rs 1,500 crore every month. According to the Federation of Punjab Chambers of Commerce and Industry, “The Industrial production of Punjab declined by about 20 per cent due to the peasant movement on Shambhu, Khanouri border. The new investors have distanced the distance from Punjab.”
In all the meetings held with Mann in Chandigarh for the last two years, the businessmen of Punjab had pressurized the government to vacate the Khanouri and Shambhu border by calling the farmers’ demonstrations a matter of law and order of the state.
The government began to change the attitude of the government since the unbeligious meeting with the United Kisan Morcha on March 3 under pressure from the businessmen of Bhagwant Mann, who once mediated between the central government and the farmers. On leaving the meeting with the leaders of the Morcha, Maan had given a statement that “the dharna -dharna -dharna -the demonstrations carrying Punjab will no longer be tolerated.”
Meanwhile, before the Ludhiana by -election, the pressure on the AAP government to evacuate the Shambhu and Khanouri border of the farmers was further increased as the industrialists made it clear that the government may have to bear the brunt of this in the by -election.
There is also a huge pressure on you to decide Sanjeev Arora’s victory in the by -election on Ludhiana Western Assembly seat of industrial voters, as Arvind Kejriwal’s entry will be fixed in Punjab from the Rajya Sabha seat, which is vacated only when Rajya Sabha member Arora won the by -election. On this, the AAP government bowed to the pressure of Ludhiana traders to vacate Shambhu and Khanouri border from the AAP farmers to win in the by -elections.
However, in the 2022 assembly elections, AAP made farmers’ issues their biggest weapon during the election campaign. During the farmers’ agitation in Delhi, AAP leaders openly supported. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann himself spoke many times from the platform of the farmers.
Farmer vote plays a decisive role in Punjab’s rural politics. Punjab has more than 13 lakh farmer families. They have about 5 lakh small and marginal farmers, who are burdened with debt. According to a report by Agricultural University Ludhiana, more than 9,000 farmers have committed suicide in Punjab from 2011 to 2022. In such a situation, the legal guarantee of MSP is a question of life and death for farmers.
Agriculture stake in Punjab’s GSDP is close to 28 per cent, while industries account for 25 per cent. Therefore, there is pressure from both farmers and businessmen on the government. In such a situation, the balance between the two is challenging for the government.
In the last two years, the Aam Aadmi Party, along with the farmers, protesting the policies of the central government, is the economic and political compulsions of Punjab for the assembly elections to be held after two years after leaving the farmers after the Delhi defeat. Apart from Ludhiana, business and industrial organizations in industrial centers like Amritsar, Jalandhar were angry with the border jam for a long time.
Farmer leader Dallewal
On March 21, Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Khundia called farmer organizations in Chandigarh for a meeting, but the farmers boycotted. Khundia told Outlook, “We are in the interest of farmers, but the stagnation of industries in Punjab is also a matter of concern. Our responsibility is to take decisions in the interest of the entire state.”
Pramod Kumar, a political analyst and chairperson of the Institute for Development and Communications (IDC) of Punjab, believes that the Aam Aadmi Party wants to avoid the situation of conflict with the central government due to open support to farmers in Punjab after the defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections. The party in Delhi is already under the grip of ED and CBI. In such a situation, the party does not want to raise the risk of more confrontation from the Center in Punjab.
In the 2022 assembly elections, AAP made farmers’ issues the biggest weapon in the election campaign.
This U-turn of Bhagwant Maan government can weaken the party’s grip among rural areas, especially farmers. He is expected to get the support of traders in urban industrial areas. Now the big political question is whether your action in favor of businessmen will be able to save power in the assembly elections to be held in Punjab after two years?
Farmers’ anger and opposition, especially the Congress attacking stance, may also increase trouble in AAP’s state and India block. The reason is also that the impact of traders is limited to some urban seats. If you have taken this step just thinking at the moment or under any political pressure, then it will be interesting to see how it balances the politics of rural and urban areas. Whatever it is, the coming round will be interesting.
