The
nation-wide bandh call given by the farm organisations today over three farm
bills that were passed in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, recently,
received an overwhelming support from the city residents especially youngsters
who were seen dominating the agitations with their participation.
Roads in Jalandhar wore a deserted look as very few people came out of their homes and most of the markets remained closed. Though the timings of the bandh given by farm unions was 11am to 3 pm, the sat-in-dharnas in city began well before 11 am and protestors were seen blocking the roads and appealing the people to give full support to the cause.
There was minimal traffic on the main PAP chowk, however, reports were received that wedding processions heading towards Ludhiana from PAP were stopped. Meanwhile, there were no reports of any untoward incident in the city and nearby area till 3 pm.
A group of youngsters on cars took out a rally in support of farmers and their demands. They visited road to road; markets to markets to check were all the shops were closed. A few shops that were seen opened, the youngsters appealed them to close the premises and lend support to the cause. A few policemen on motorbikes and cars were seen following them.
In Model Town area, scores of school and college going students, under the leadership of youth leaders, stood at various points holding placards in hands having slogans ‘No farmers, No food’, to express their fulsome support to the farmers.
Vikram Singh, an engineering student, who was spotted capturing the rally live on Facebook, at the PPR Chowk here, said, “I do not belong to any political party or organisation, I am here for the ‘Annadata’ (farmers) of our state. I, along with a few of my friends, decided to participate in the protests today with the sole motive of making the city residents aware of the plight of farmers in the state via social media,” he said, adding that despite such a cold weather, the farmers are out on roads in Delhi.
“The fact is they are not protesting just for their rights, rather, these laws are harmful for every citizen of India, and it will force us to buy even the cheapest farm produce in almost four times of the cost of its production”, he added.