Lucknow:
To make people aware about the recent farm laws brought by the Centre, the ruling BJP will organise farmers’ meets at various places in Uttar Pradesh, the party said in a statement issued here on Sunday. These ”kisan sammelan” will begin on Monday and continue till December 18.
Uttar Pradesh BJP general secretary Govind Narayan Shukla said the party’s state in-charge, Radha Mohan Singh, will address the ”kisan sammelan” at Ayodhya and Basti, state party chief Swatantra Dev Singh will address the farmers’ meet in Gonda on December 15 and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya will address another ”kisan sammelan” in Varanasi also on December 15.
The ”kisan sammelan” of the saffron party will coincide with the daylong hunger strike, which will be observed by all farmer unions. The heads of all the farmer unions protesting against the new farm laws will observe a daylong hunger strike on Monday, farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni said in Delhi. The hunger strike from 8 am to 5 pm is part of the farmers’ plan to intensify their agitation from Monday.
Addressing a press conference at the Singhu border, Chaduni said the leaders will observe the hunger strike at their respective places. ”Also, dharnas will be staged at all district headquarters across the country and the farmers will submit a memorandum of demands addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The protests will go on as usual,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, in a statement, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said, ”The Samajwadi Party supports the demands of the farmers and its sympathy is with them. The ‘kisan yatra’ was started by the SP on December 7. On December 14, the party workers will hold dharna at all the district headquarters in the state.” Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said, ”India is a ‘krishi pradhan’ (agriculture-dominated) country and the arrogant BJP should remember that the word ‘krishi’ comes before ‘pradhan’.”
