Farmers turn to jaago to drum up support

Punjab’s hinterland is preparing to come alive to the beats of dhol and jaago from tomorrow.

As farmer unions of Punjab prepare for a long haul against the land pooling policy of the state’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, they have decided to use these traditional rural methods of spreading their message against the policy.

The decision was taken at a meeting of representatives of different unions, under the aegis of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) as well as the BKU Ekta Ugrahan, held in Ludhiana today.

The 32 unions that form the SKM and BKU Ekta Ugrahan have decided to involve its cadres, spread these through the countryside between August 5-23, so that each and every village is covered and farmers mobilised against the policy so that they get thousands of farners to protest at a rally, to be held in Samrala on August 24.

“We are preparing to have the biggest-ever protest in the state on August 24. To make it a success, each union will be covering 10 villages each day. They will take out a jaago, jhanda march, rally or a dhol march, to convey to the people how their livelihoods are under threat if the state government succeeds in implementing its land pooling policy, under which 65,533 acres of land is to be acquired,” SKM leader Raminder Singh Patiala told The Tribune.

The unions, which seem to be getting their strength back after their near-decimation in March after police crackdown against their protests, have now made a plan to cover 12,000 villages in the next 19 days. Other than this, the unions will continue with their ongoing campaign of not just asking village panchayats (in 116 villages, where land pooling is to be implemented) to pass resolutions, refusing to give up their land, but also to show their resentment against AAP leaders for bringing in this policy.

Talking to The Tribune, Balbir Singh Rajewal said they were also contemplating to have more Punjabi leaders joining in the primary decision-making body of the SKM — the Six-Member Committee. This is because the struggle now is only in Punjab and the SKM would get a broader feedback on taking the struggle against the land pooling policy forward, he said.

Moga planning board chief quits

The chairman of the Moga District Planning Board, Harmanjit Singh Brar, has resigned from AAP while asking the party leadership to reconsider the policy. The former OSD to CM Bhagwant Mann, Onkar Singh Sidhu, too came out in support of farmers

Punjab AAP farmers’ wing gets new chief

Amidst growing criticism of the land pooling policy, ruling AAP appointed Mohinder Singh Sidhu as the chief of its Punjab farmers’ wing. Ten state secretaries and 15 district incharges were also appointed.

‘Take up farmers’ cause jointly’

Sarwan Singh Pandher of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha has wrotten to the SKM, calling to jointly take up the cause of farmers. Raminder Singh Patiala of the SKM said his proposal was under consideration and a decision would be taken on August 20

Punjab