During the farmers’ movement against the three agricultural laws, the Aam Aadmi Party, which described itself as farmer friendly, started taking action on the farmers as soon as it came to power in Punjab. In Amritsar, the Naib Tehsildar was taken hostage in his office by the farmers demanding compensation from the Mann government for the damaged cotton crop in Amritsar.
On Monday midnight, police lathi-charged the farmers and freed Naib Tehsildar Arjinder Singh and his staff. Six farmers of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), who were leading the agitating farmers, were injured in the lathi charge. He has been admitted to the hospital. Angered by taking the farmers hostage, the Tehsildars of the entire state have gone on strike. The agitating farmers are also not ready to back down. For their demands, they have camped outside the Tehsil office.
Harpal Singh Killianwali, Nishan Singh Khudianwali, Jagdeep Singh Khudian, Davinder Singh Manawala, MP Singh Bhullarwala, Gurlabh Singh Kakkhanwali, Kala Singh Khunnan Khurd are among the injured farmers in the lathi charge. Patwaris, who were released from the hostage of the farmers, staged a sit-in on the National Highway late at night.
The employees of all the SDM and Tehsil offices of the district have gone on strike demanding action against the farmers. The Tehsildar and Naib Tehsildar of the state also gathered at the guest house in Badal village and announced to go on an indefinite strike.
Farmers allege that Muktsar district has been neglected in the matter of compensation for the crop of Narma, which was damaged by pink bollworm. In Muktsar district, most of the narma cultivation is done in the long block only. Only six villages of Lambi block were included in Girdavari and they too have not been compensated yet, another 30 villages have not been included in Girdawari.
Recently, the Aam Aadmi Party government under the leadership of Bhagwant Mann has taken power in Punjab. Last year, several farmers’ organizations had agitated on the borders of Delhi for more than a year over the three agricultural laws. This is the first incident of lathi-charge on farmers in Punjab after the formation of the Aam Aadmi Party government.