Farmers Protest 2.0 is still ongoing at the Shambhu Border. While the protest is still going on, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting three Punjab cities for election campaigning. In light of this, the farmers announced that they will be visiting the rallies in Patiala, Jalandhar and Gurdaspur to ask PM Modi some pertinent questions about their demands from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Central Govt.
Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher released a video outlining the protesting farmer’s plans to march to Patiala. Pandher informed that the farmers from the Shambhu and Khanauri border will move towards Patiala at around 11 AM today. He also informed that groups of farmers will be travelling along the Chandigarh to Patiala, Sirhind to Patiala and Sangrur to Patiala routes.
“The honourable Prime Minister has been boasting worldwide that India is the world’s most democratic country, hence it is his duty to address the 80 crore farmers and agriculture workers and answer their questions” Pandher said. He also said that the farmers aim to ask PM Modi about the way the protestors have been treated, saying, “We want to know why were we not allowed to go to Delhi to peacefully protest? Why had national highways in Shambhu, Dabwali, Khanauri and Ratanpura being boarded up to keep us out?”
Pandher also called out the violence at the Shambhu border, “The way that we were attacked with rubber bullets, SLR bullets, 12 bore and tear gas was fired at us through drones… why was Shubhkaran martyred?” He said the farmer unions will ask PM Modi about their demands of MSP, NREGA minimum wage, justice for the Lakhimpura violence and relief from debt of the farmers.
PM Modi will be attending election rallies in Patiala on Thursday evening. He will also be attending rallies in Jalandhar and Gurdaspur on May 24. Farmers will be attending the rallies as well with aim of getting PM Modi to provide an answer for their demands.