Farmers, unions, gear up for Bharat Bandh tomorrow

With growing support from unions, opposition parties and people, farmers have geared up for the peaceful Bharat Bandh on Tuesday, December 8th. With the farmers blocking three borders of the National Capital, anticipating tensions, the Government has made arrangements for Delhi getting affected by tomorrow’s Bandh. RAF and Police have been deployed to the city. Network jammers have also been installed at Delhi borders.

Over 12 unions of farmers as well as workers unions in Maharashtra have expressed support to the Bharat Bandh. Students unions like the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) and the Progressive Students’ Forum (PSF) at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) have also expressed solidarity with the protesting farmer, and have appealed to the students across the country to join the Bharat Bandh. Transport unions have also called a strike in support of the farmers tomorrow.

The preparations of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKCSS) for the Bharat Bandh all over India are going on in full swing, stated a press bulletin issued by the Committee. Rallies are moving to make mass appeals for participation. More farmers have reached Delhi from different parts of the country to join the ongoing protests.

The next round of talks between the farmers’ organisations and the Central Government has been scheduled on Wednesday, December 9th. The five rounds of talks before this have turned out inconclusive, as the farmers have made it clear that the protests will stop only when the three acts are repealed. Until now, the Government had only proposed a few amendments in these acts.

Protests against the three farm reform laws have been ongoing since September, amidst which the Central Government had also stopped railways going to Punjab. Demonstrations began a few days ago when thousands of farmers from northern states of Punjab and Haryana set out towards New Delhi to protest against these bills. The government tried to suppress the protests with force, as they employed water cannons and teargas shells, erected barricades and barbed wire fences, dug trenches on highways, and arrested hundreds of activists. Braving it all,  tens of thousands of farmers have amassed on the Delhi border and have laid siege to the capital.