Farmers, farm workers hold mega protest in Punjab’s Sangrur, demand land rights, release of arrested leaders

According to the protesters, 16 union leaders detained in May are still behind bars. “We have been demanding their immediate release. For the past two months, the police would detain our protestors even before a protest began, forcing us to restrict our agitation to the village level. But finally, we held a mega protest at the Sangrur grain market,” Lachhman Singh Sewewala, general secretary of the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union, told The Indian Express.

On May 20, farmer unions in the state had staged a protest demanding ownership of over 100 acres of land in Bhamanwali village, once part of the erstwhile Jind princely state. The protesters had demanded that the land, lying unused and under state control for decades, be allotted to landless Dalit families and farm labourers as per land reform and social justice provisions. As the protests gained strength, the police had detained several activists and leaders, sparking widespread outrage. While most of the detained individuals were later released, 16 union leaders, including Bikkar Singh Hathoa, Nikka Singh, Jagsir Singh, Gurvinder Singh, Lakhwinder Singh, were allegedly not.

“We gathered to demand the immediate release of our members and enforcement of pro-people land reforms. It was a strong show of resistance, where hundreds of farmers, labourers, women, and members of many other organisations broke the undeclared ban on protests in Sangrur,” Bhupinder Singh Longowal of the Kirti Kisan Union said.

The rally began with a two-minute silence in memory of Jagtar Singh Tolewal, a senior ZPSC leader who passed away recently, and condemned the move towards a “police raj” in the state.

“We strongly condemn the state for unleashing the police force to crush democratic protests,” Mukesh Maloud, president of ZPSC, said, speaking alongside Joginder Ugrahan, the president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU)-Ugrahan, and Nirbhay Singh Dhudike, the state president of the Kirti Kisan Union.

“The government is pushing forward a corporate and landlord agenda by using brute force. Labourers, women, and marginalised communities are bearing the brunt of illegal detentions and false encounters,” added Sewewala.

The protesters also opposed the land pooling policy and demanded its repeal. “Labourers are demanding enforcement of the Land Ceiling Act to redistribute surplus land to the landless. The aim is to make landowners out of the landless,” Sewewala said.

“Bulldozers, fake cases, and arrests under the guise of law and order are now routine against the poor. But this movement will not back down—it will only grow stronger,” said Gurbinder Singh, another organiser.

Other prominent speakers included Kulwant Singh Kishangarh of BKU-Ekta Dakaunda, Tarsem Peter of Pendu Mazdoor Union, Kulwinder Waraich of IFTU, Vikram Dev of Democratic Teachers’ Front, along with representatives from Krantikari Kisan Union, Naujawan Bharat Sabha, and Istri Jagriti Manch.