Farmer leaders have claimed that several leaders of the United Kisan Morcha (SKM) (Non-Political) including Jagjit Singh Dallawal were arrested by the Punjab government on Monday before their predefined demonstrations outside the Shambhu police station.
In March, a protest was called against the Punjab government on May 6 to protest against the use of alleged oppressive methods of the government to remove protesting farmers from protesting sites at Shambhu and Khanouri border.
Farmer leaders claimed that Punjab Police personnel reached their homes in the morning to take him into custody. He said that the police wanted to stop them from gathering people for Tuesday’s performance.
A farmer leader said, “Dallawal was put under house arrest at his house in Faridkot district at around four in the morning.” Farmer leaders said that many other farmer leaders in various districts of the state also faced similar problems. Those detained include Manjit Singh Rai and Davinder Singh.
The farmers’ organization had recently announced a protest outside the Shambhu police station on Tuesday, accusing them of using repressive methods to remove them from their protests in March and also demanded strict action against those who stole a lot of belongings after the protesters were removed.
After detention, Dallewal allegedly uploaded a video on social media. Dallawal ended his long fast in April.
Dallawal said, “I am still weak and still I can walk hard. Nevertheless, they have confined me to my house. ”He said that he had announced a day -long peaceful demonstration outside the Shambhu police station, but the government” scared “and is not allowing them to gather.
Dallewal said, “Instead of taking immediate action against the culprits, the police started registering cases against those who were helping the farmers to locate the missing goods … When we called for a protest on May 6, the government was so scared that it decided not to let us gather.”
The Punjab Police took action against the agitating farmers on March 19 and took their leaders into custody in Mohali when they were returning from a meeting with a central delegation led by Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan in Chandigarh.
The detained farmer leaders and some other farmers were later released. The meeting was organized to discuss the demands of the farmers, including the guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP).
The Punjab Police had removed the farmers from the Shambhu and Khanouri border and demolished their temporary structures, where they had been staging for more than a year.
Dallawal is a senior leader of the United Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), who led the movement on Shambhu and Khanouri border in support of his various demands.
Dallawal started a fast unto death on 26 November last year to pressurize the Center to accept the demands of the farmers.
He ended his fast unto death in early April after Punjab Police took action on agitating farmers.
