Farmer leaders says ‘angry’ Punjab CM ‘walked out’ of meeting, stick to Chandigarh dharna call

After the meeting, Mann, in a statement, said that farmers should not block roads or squat on railway tracks, as such actions cause inconvenience to the people. He said his government is always ready to resolve the issues through negotiations, and causing trouble to the common man through rail or road blockades must be avoided.

The chief minister said such actions cause problems to the general public due to which they turn against the agitators. “Protest is democratic right of the farmers but they should also think that it is bringing huge loss to the state. Traders and industrialists have been ruing that due to frequent road and rail blocks their businesses have been ruined. Though the state government is solidly with the farmers but all the demands of the food growers are concerned with the Union government. Due to the frequent protests by the farmers unions, Punjab and Punjabis have to face the heat,” he said.

Earlier, however, speaking to mediapersons, the SKM leaders lashed out at Mann for “threatening us” and walking out the meeting.

SKM Punjab chief Balbir Singh Rajewal said, “The CM threatened us. Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian and NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal were also in the meeting. All this happened in their presence. The discussion was taking place in a pleasant environment. Half of the points on our memorandum were discussed when he (CM) got up and said he has to see a doctor.

“There was a consensus on one point that they will allow us to transplant paddy from June 1. But while walking out of the meeting, the CM said that he will not accept any demands if the morcha was to continue. We have been meeting Prime Ministers and CMs. This is for the first time that I saw a CM getting hyper and walking out. We could not understand why he got so upset. This action is beneath the dignity of a CM…He has challenged the Punjab farmers”.

The SKM had an 18-point memorandum, including the withdrawal of the National Policy Framework on Agriculture Marketing (NPFAM) and a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP). The farmers had stated that they will participate after coming from all 23 districts of Punjab.

Bharti Kisan Union (Ugrahan) president, Joginder Singh Ugrahan said, “The CM told us that we should not be holding the dharnas. We told him that he would not have met us had we not given a call for an agitation. After this, he got angry. He did not say it in as many words but he meant that he was not scared of the morcha. Then he walked out. He was angry. We do not know what they will do to us now. He can get us arrested from our homes. He can even not allow us to enter Chandigarh. We will see.”

Ugrahan added, “We have met several chief ministers in the past including Parkash Singh Badal, Capt Amarinder Singh and Charanjit Singh Channi. But this is for the first time that a CM lost his temper”.

A functionary of the government said that the meeting went on for two hours. “It was happening in a cordial environment. The CM discussed nine demands with them. Later, he started reading from the last page. Only two were left, when he said that these are doable. Then he told the leaders that he had to see a doctor for his eye infection. He folded his hands and appealed to all the leaders that they should come across the table and discuss their problems. He told them that dharnas and mochas of the farmers were harming the interests of the states. He cited an example of a home delivery portal that it had started charging extra for delivery in Punjab due to farmers’ dharnas. He also told them that investors were shying away from Punjab. He also said that nowhere in the country were farmers holding dharnas to this extent. Then he asked them if they would continue with their march on March 5. To this, the farmers leaders said they would walk towards Chandigarh”.

Mann, meanwhile, said it was unfortunate that the farmers still wanted to protest in the state “for no reason” related to the Punjab government.

The chief minister said he was the custodian of the rights of every strata of the state and their interests will be secured by all ways and means. The state government has already rejected the draft of the National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing framed by the Centre, he said, adding that the Punjab government has prepared a draft agriculture policy for the state.

Suggestions have been asked from all the stakeholders and the policy will be finalised once the replies are received within 20 days, he said.

The unions have not been granted a location to protest in Chandigarh yet. As many as 37 farmers unions had given a protest call — Chandigarh Kooch. All 37 are part of SKM’s Punjab chapter. Last time, on a protest call given by BKU (Ugrahan), the farmers had held a dharna in Sector 34 in Chandigarh from September 1 to September 6. It was after two decades that the Chandigarh administration had allowed the farmers to sit on a dharna at Sector 34 grounds.