Bharat bandh today with growing support from all people for the farmers’ national strike, including bank unions to Opposition parties.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s (SKM) call for a Bharat Bandh on Monday, to mark the first anniversary of the three controversial farm laws getting Presidential assent, has received support from all sections of the society, including political parties.
Farmers have been protesting for over a year now, seeking a repeal of the three farm laws. but the Center remains adamant to enforce the three laws, that will remove the farmers’ autonomy and give rise to controlled capitalism by the “big fish”.
The bandh will be held from 6 in the morning to 4 in the evening during which all government and private offices, educational and other institutions, shops, industries, and commercial establishments as well as public events and functions will be closed throughout the country. However, all emergency establishments and essential services, including hospitals, medical stores, relief, and rescue work, and people attending to personal emergencies will be exempted. The bandh will be enforced in a voluntary and peaceful manner, the SKM has assured.
Most of the Opposition parties have demonstrated their support to the bandh — Congress Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has supported the bandh, Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav has announced that he will participate in the nationwide strike. The Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu governments, too, have declared complete support to the nationwide strike. The Congress party has also said that it will be joining the protests on Monday.
The Congress joins the September 27 “Bharat Bandh” called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha to mark the first anniversary of the passing of the three controversial farm laws in Parliament, the party announced on Saturday.
Party spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said the Narendra Modi government has systematically assaulted the agriculture sector in the past seven years. At the very onset in 2014, the Modi government came up with the Land Acquisition Ordinance to usurp farmlands in the name of strategic sectors but the government had to drop this bill, he said.
The ruling DMK has supported the bandh and appealed to the people, farmers, farmworkers, and traders to take part in the proposed nationwide strike on September 27 by farmer unions and urged its functionaries as well to make the “Bharat Bandh” a success in Tamil Nadu.
Andhra Pradesh government also backs the bandh extending full support to the Bharat Bandh on September 27, and also to workers of Visakhapatnam steel plant, state Information and Transport Minister Perni Venkataramaiah (Nani) said on Saturday.
Nani told reporters that the state government has decided to stop APSRTC buses across the state from September 26 midnight to September 27 afternoon.
DMK’s state agriculture wing chief NKK Periyasamy said, adding that the Centre was autocratic and never pays heed to them. Tamil Nadu farmers, farmworkers, the general public, traders, and all social outfits should participate in the bandh and make it a complete success, he requested.
Kerala’s ruling LDF has also called for a state-wide hartal on 27 September to express solidarity with the farmers. This call was announced by LDF convenor and CPI(M) acting secretary A Vijayaraghavan after the meeting of the leaders of the ruling party alliance in Thiruvananthapuram.
Speaking to the media, Vijayaraghavan said five lakh people will join the protest. He claimed that over 100 organizations including motor transport workers, bank employees, and farmers organizations have extended their support to the LDF agitation.
Former Bihar Deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has also extended his support to the farmers’ call for the Bharat Bandh.
In a tweet, Tejashwi Yadav said that in the meeting of the top leaders of the grand alliance parties held at his residence and they together decided to participate and support the Bharat Bandh called on September 27 “in protest against the anti-farmer policies of the NDA government”. “We are firm with the farmers,” he said.
The All India Bank Officers’ Confederation has extended its support to the bandh on Monday. It has requested the government to have a dialogue with the farmers on their demands and rescind the three laws at the center of the standoff. The confederation said that its affiliates and state units will join in solidarity with the protest actions of the farmers all over the country on Monday.
The farmers have been camping at the borders of Delhi since last year seeking a repeal of the laws.