STAY UNITED, SAY LEADERS AT NUH MAHAPANCHAYAT

GURUGRAM: Highlighting the need for communal harmony and amity among farmers agitating against the farm laws, farmer leaders from different states on Sunday addressed a crowd of over 15,000 people during a “mahapanchyat” at Sunehra, near the Haryana-Rajasthan border. The call for the mahapanchayat was given by the Meo community of Rajasthan and Haryana that has been protesting against the farm laws under a common banner since last December.

Mahapanchayats or village gatherings are being held in various parts of the country against the backdrop of a call given by Bharatiya Kisan Union’s (BKU) Rakesh Tikait to strengthen the ongoing farmers’ agitation. Farmers across the country are protesting against the three farm laws that were passed in September last year. Farmers fear that the new laws will put an end to the maximum support price (MSP) for important crops and leave them open to exploitation by corporate interests.

Sunday’s mahapanchayat was addressed by a host of farmer leaders and Congress MLAs from Nuh. These included BKU’s Gurnam Charuni, BKU general secretary Yudhvir Singh, farmer-leader Ghulam Mohammad Jola, Rakesh Tikait’s nephew, Gaurav Tikait, AIKSC’s Amra Ram and Bhim Army’s Chandrashekhar Azad, among others.

Greeting the impressive crowd with “assalamualaikum” and “namaskar”, Charuni said the overwhelming turnout of people indicated that the farmers’ agitation would grow substantially in the coming days. He said that the government had unintentionally brought people from different communities together in the fight against the laws. “Today, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs are standing together under a common banner of farmers,” he said.