Traffic jams, border blocks mark 10-hr Bharat Bandh
Several trains were cancelled, highways and key roads blocked, and shops and businesses were shut for ten hours across states on Monday as thousands of protesting farmers launched the nationwide Bharat Bandh to mark the anniversary of presidential assent to the three controversial agricultural laws.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella forum of farmer unions protesting for months against the three farm laws, said it received an “unprecedented and historic” response to the call for a countrywide protest from at least 23 states.
“Reports have been pouring in about the overwhelmingly positive and resounding response to the Bharat Bandh call … to mark 10 months of peaceful protests with rightful demands from the ‘annadaatas’ (cultivators) of the country. Spontaneous participation from various sections of the society was witnessed at most places,” it said in a statement.
The SKM said the bandh was observed peacefully in “more than 23 states” and not a single untoward incident was reported.
In Delhi-National Capital Region, serpentine traffic jams were seen at inter-state borders as governments deployed heavy security apparatus. These included Ghazipur and Dhansa borders between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, and the Delhi-Gurugram border. Scores of police and paramilitary barricades were sprinkled across the areas.
There was a near-shutdown in Punjab and Haryana -- both agrarian states that have been key participants in the monthslong agitation.
Farmers blocked national highways and major link roads in both the states, prompting the police to divert traffic. In Punjab, most transport services were suspended during the bandh period – from 6am to 4pm -- and shops and other commercial establishments remained shut. National and state highways in several districts, including Amritsar, Rupnagar, Jalandhar, Pathankot, Sangrur, Mohali,
Ludhiana, Ferozepur, Bathinda, were blocked by the protesters.
There were also sizeable protests across other states such as pockets of Kerala, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha. In Kerala -- where the strike was supported by the ruling LDF and the opposition Congress-led UDF -- bus services were off the road with almost all trade unions in the state taking part. In Bengal, left activists blocked train tracks and roads in Jalpaiguri, West Midnapore, East Midnapore, Hooghly and Coochbehar.
The day marks one year since President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the three controversial laws and 10 months since thousands of farmers set up camp at Delhi’s border points to voice their opposition.
In northern states, about 25 trains were affected and border movement was crawling until evening. “More than 20 locations are being blocked in Delhi, Ambala, and Firozepur divisions. About 25 trains are affected due to this,” a Northern Railway spokesperson said.
The bandh had the backing of several large opposition parties, including the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, YSR Congress, DMK, TDP, Left parties, BSP, and the RJD. The state governments of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu too had announced support to the nationwide strike.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that the central government was “exploitative” and extended support for the farmers protest using the hashtag ##IStandWithFarmers.
Newly appointed Punjab chief minister Charanjit S Channi urged the Centre to repeal the farm laws and encouraged farmers to “raise their voices in a peaceful manner”.
“Our ‘Bharat Bandh’ was successful.
We had the full support of farmers... We can’t seal down everything as we have to facilitate the movement of people. We are ready for talks with the government, but no talks are happening,” said Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson Rakesh Tikait. BKU is among the participants of the bandh called by the SKM.
Eleven rounds of talks between the government and farmer unions ended in a stalemate in January this year. Discussions have not resumed since, and the possibility of it diminished after the January 26 protests by farmers turned violent in New Delhi.
The three laws -- The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020 -- were passed by Parliament in September last year.
Farmer groups have alleged the laws will end the “mandi” and the guaranteed price procurement system, leaving cultivators at the mercy of corporates.
The government maintains that the laws are important to reform the ailing agrarian sector.