Amid the surging Covid cases, farmer unions from Punjab have announced that they will hold street protests against the coronavirus lockdown on May 8 in the state and urge people to defy the restrictions.
This decision was taken by 32 farmer unions of Punjab, which are part of the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha — the umbrella group of farmer outfits protesting against Centre’s farm laws. Addressing a press conference at the Singhu border protest site, leader Balbir Singh Rajewal alleged the government has imposed a lockdown to hide its failure to handle the coronavirus situation and wants to weaken the ongoing farmers’ movement.
Punjab farmer outfits said that as part of their protest on Saturday they have asked shopkeepers to open shops irrespective of the orders by their local administration.
The state governments of both Punjab and Haryana have imposed limited lockdowns to halt the transmission of the virus. As of now, the farmers are sitting at 108 spots such as petrol pumps, shopping malls, toll plazas, and railway stations etc in Punjab.
Farmer union leader Baldev Singh Nihalgarh said, “The harvesting season is almost over now and on May 10 and May 12, once again jathas of farmers from Punjab and Haryana will be moving towards borders. We have apprehensions that they may cause trouble for us as we will travel in groups. So, we will be organising protests on May 8. We will ask shopkeepers to open shops and come on roads to oppose these curbs in name of pandemic.”
Farmer unions have also planned that they will be leaving from Khanauri and Shambhu borders on May 10 and May 12 in batches, told Nihalgarh.
