Punjab bypoll candidates feel the chill wind of union protests

Aman Arora assured PSU leaders that their demands would be considered in right earnest, Dhillon told The Indian Express.

The Malwa Western Zone Committee of the PSU had staged this protest. They demanded that education should be brought back into the State List from the Concurrent List of the Constitution, and that 90% reservation in jobs should be allocated for Punjab residents.

Addressing the gathering, PSU state president Ranveer Singh Kurar said, “Before coming to power, the AAP had promised to bring a revolution in education. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had consistently called for giving preference to Punjab residents in state jobs. However, not a single promise by the AAP has been fulfilled. The policies of the central government are being imposed on the state, eroding Punjab’s rights. The Centre’s New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has been implemented in Punjab, and its negative impacts are already becoming evident.”

Farmers’ protest

BKU Ugrahan members have already launched dharnas outside the offices of BJP and AAP candidates in bypoll-bound constituencies (Gidderbaha, Barnala, Chabbewal and Dera Baba Nanak), Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan, general secretary of BKU Ugrahan, told The Indian Express.

Dharnas outside offices/houses of candidates started from November 4.

The reason for the protest is tardy lifting of paddy and shortage of DAP fertiliser for wheat sowing, Kokrikalan said, adding that “the AAP government is working on the lines of the central government and both governments are blaming each other. We know the truth behind all this blame-game. We will question these candidates when they come for byelection campaign.”

Their dharnas at 26 toll plazas across the state are already going on.

On Tuesday, BKU Ugrahan members had stopped the vehicle of BJP candidate Manpreet Singh Badal in Gidderbaha to question him in this regard (tardy lifting of paddy). Manpreet Badal has been blaming the state government for dragging its feet on making milling policy due to which, according to him, this crisis has been created.

On Monday veterinary doctors had staged a dharna in Gidderbaha, while on October 27 Purani Pension Bahali Sangharsh Committee had organised a protest in Gidderbaha to press for their various demands.

“On November 9, Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF) will be organising a mega rally in Barnala and another one in Gidderbaha on November 17 to press for their demands. Our date for Gidderbaha may change, but a rally will be organised for sure,” said Digvijay Pal Sharma, president of DTF, while talking to The Indian Express.