The ‘Bharat Bandh’ called by farmer unions to mark the first anniversary of the enactment of the Centre’s three farm laws met with a mixed response. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which gave the call for the nationwide bandh in a statement on Monday, however, said there has been “an unprecedented response, beyond anyone’s expectations”. The bandh, which began at 6 am on Monday, caused disruptions in traffic movement of Delhi and neighbouring states of Haryana and Punjab, but normal life remained largely unaffected.
Markets remained open and business activities were largely smooth in the national capital on Monday, though traffic jams were witnessed in border areas due to road blockades by protesters and security checks put in place by the police. A Delhi Metro station near Tikri Border, one of the sites of the ongoing farmers’ protests, was also closed for security reasons in view of the bandh.
Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said that there was no effect of the bandh on the markets across the country, including Delhi. The auto and taxi unions as well as several traders› bodies extended only “in-principle support” to the bandh and decided not to join the strike, saying their livelihood has already been hit hard by the pandemic and the resultant lockdown.
In the wake of the farmers unions’ bandh call, the Haryana government had made proper arrangements with a strategy in place as the state has become the center of protests. The spokesperson of the police department replied that the Bharat Bandh call given by farmers’ organisations against the three farm laws passed off peacefully in Haryana. The impact of the Bandh was largely seen in the form of road/rail blocks and affected intercity road and rail traffic movement, but did not have much impact on the activities within towns and cities. The bandh call did not have any impact in districts Gurugram, Faridabad, Narnaul, Rewari and Nuh in the state. No violent incident was reported in the state.
However, most of the leaders from the Opposition declared the Bharat Bandh successful, while contrary to this, the ruling faction said that it was a failure and politically motivated protest which will come to an end soon.
Most of the national highways in Haryana were reportedly jammed and blocked, resulting in increased problems for commuters. It is worth mentioning that the Delhi-Hisar, Delhi-Chandigarh, Jalandhar-Bawal, Chandigarh-Hisar and Chandigarh-Shimla highways were blocked by the farmers from morning to evening. Thousands of vehicles were stuck in the jam due to protest on the Delhi-Gurugram border and Gurugram-Jaipur highway.
Apart from the mentioned above, most of the roads in cities including Jind, Sirsa, Kaithal, Fatehabad, Bhiwani, Hisar, along with adjoining others, were reportedly jammed, causing problems for commuters. Railway services were also reportedly affected on several routes as farmers were sitting on the railway tracks. In view of this, few of the trains were cancelled, while some of them were declared delayed by the authorities concerned. The protest remained otherwise quite peaceful, giving relief to all as a string of violent incidents had occurred between the farmers and security forces earlier. During the Bharat Bandh, the higher officials were in constant touch with the local police officers so that no violent incident happened.
Meanwhile, in Mumbai, malls and shops were open as usual.
The governments of Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Punjab, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh extended their support to the bandh, and the effect of protest was seen in these states.
In other northern states, except Haryana and Punjab, the protest seemed to have no major impact. The protests, however, received some support in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The roads in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram wore a deserted look and shops were closed as the trade unions affiliated to LDF and UDF supported the call for Bharat Bandh. Meanwhile, protesters agitating against the three farm laws broke police barricades in the Anna Salai area of Tamil Nadu’s Chenna, following which many agitators were detained by the police.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan on Monday severely criticised the Kerala government for extending support to the Bharat Bandh and said that “protest by farmers is politically motivated and it is anti-government”.
“The agriculture laws that are enacted don’t have anything to do with Kerala as Kerala doesn’t have mandis. Then why Kerala people are subjected to unnecessary torture? It’s a politically motivated anti-PM Modi protest,” Muraleedharan said.
Rail operations were also affected by the bandh with services of about 25 trains getting affected. According to the Northern Railway, the rail operations in Delhi, Ambala and Ferozepur divisions were impacted by people sitting on tracks.
Farmers have been protesting at different sites since November 26 last year against the three enacted farm laws: Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
WITH AGENCY INPUTS