A tractor was set on fire near India Gate on September 28 amid protests by farmers in the national capital against the contentious farm laws. The bills have triggered massive uproar across the country.
President Ram Nath Kovind on September 27 gave assent to the three bills passed in the parliament recently.
Nearly 15 to 20 people had gathered at the central Delhi location on Monday morning and set the tractor on fire. According to the police, the protesters had raised pro-Congress slogans.
The Punjab Youth Congress live-streamed this morning’s protest at India Gate on its official Facebook page.
#WATCH: Punjab Youth Congress workers stage a protest against the farm laws near India Gate in Delhi. A tractor was also set ablaze. pic.twitter.com/iA5z6WLGXR
— ANI (@ANI) September 28, 2020
Responding to the protests, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar tweeted: ‘Congress workers brought a tractor on a truck and set it on fire near India Gate. This is the drama of the Congress. This is why people voted the Congress out of power.’
Punjab, Haryana and several other states have witnessed massive protests by farmers in the last week over the three bills – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill.
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh will hold a sit-in today in Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Shaheed Bhagat Singh.
‘We are already consulting with legal and agricultural experts, and all those impacted by the central government’s calamitous legislations, to decide on the future course of action,’ Punjab CM said in a statement.
Farmers in Punjab were protesting on the Amritsar-Delhi railway track on Sunday. Some, under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, have been staging a sit-in on the rail track in Punjab since last Wednesday.
In Karnataka, farmers groups have called for a state-wide bandh today against the three farm bills. The bandh has been supported by the opposition in the state-Congress.
Karnataka: Protesters sit on a road in Hubli, in a bid to stop a bus amid statewide bandh today. Farmers’ organisations have called a statewide bandh today, against #FarmBills (now laws), land reform ordinances, amendments to Agricultural Produce Market Committee & labour laws. pic.twitter.com/N0agwuwDog
— ANI (@ANI) September 28, 2020
Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar said that his party firmly opposed the amendments and hit out at the BJP who, he said, wanted to keep the farmers as ‘slaves’.
The government has constantly assured that the three bills will allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere they want at a better price and will empower them. However, farmers have expressed concerns that the centre’s farm reforms would scrap the minimum support price system and leave them at the ‘mercy’ of big corporates.
