Farmers' organisations announce all-India road blockade on 5 Nov against new agriculture laws

Chandigarh: Various farmers’ outfits protesting against the new farm laws of the Centre on Tuesday announced a nationwide road blockade on 5 November. At a meeting held in New Delhi, it was further decided that there shall be complete coordination between various farmers’ outfits “to spearhead the fight against three anti-farmer, anti-people farm laws and the Centre’s proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020”. Major farmer federations with over 500 constituent organisations, including the entire working group and state chapter representatives of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) and the federations led by farmer leaders Balbir Singh Rajewal of BKU (Rajewal) and Haryana BKU chief Gurnam Singh, met at Delhi, where various decisions were taken, according to a statement issued by the AIKSCC. According to the statement, it was announced at the meeting that “an all-India road blockade shall be organised on 5 November”. Also, a “Delhi Chalo” protest shall be held on 26-27 November. “The demand shall be focussed on the withdrawal of the three recently-passed farm Acts and the Electricity Bill 2020. The protests will include huge state-wise/region-wise buildup of mass mobilisation and movements focussing on these demands,” the statement said. A newly-launched programme coordination body will lead the protests. A committee of the coordination body shall include VM Singh, Balbir Singh Rajewal, Gurnam Singh, Raju Shetty and Yogendra Yadav. It will coordinate the two initial programmes on 5 November and another one on 26-27 November. It was decided at the meeting that farmers all over the country will protest before government offices, including those of the central government, offices of the leaders of the ruling BJP and its allies as well as big corporates. “The meeting condemned the central government’s decision to stop the operation of goods trains to Punjab…this is blackmail of the people and farmers of Punjab and is most unbecoming of a democratic government,” the statement said. Amid protests by farmers on railway tracks against the new farm laws, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal sought the Punjab government’s assurance on Monday on the safety of trains and their crew members to restore freight services, hours after Chief Minister Amarinder Singh asked him to intervene in the matter. Goods train services resumed in Punjab after the farmer unions, on 21 October, announced exempting them from their weeks-old “rail roko” agitation over the farm laws. However, the railways decided to extend its suspension of goods train operations in the state, saying the protesting farmers are still blocking the tracks.