Violence rocks farmer outfit’s protest for release of activists

Bathinda: Police fired teargas shells and detained hundreds of members of farmer outfit Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) in the Malwa region on Friday to foil their protest march for the release of two activists who have been jailed for the last 10 months.The tension began following a call to lay siege to the Bathinda district administrative complex seeking the release of Shagandeep Singh and Baldev Singh. The two were arrested on April 5, 2025, after farmers and police clashed at Rampura Phul over their demand for reinstatement of Adarsh School teachers at Chaoke village in Bathinda on April 5, 2025. The police action began in the early hours of Friday, with raids on the homes of senior members of the farmer outfit, including BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan. However, most of them were not found. As news of the raids spread, farmers started marching towards Bathinda, prompting massive police deployment. The situation turned ugly in Bathinda, Sangrur and Barnala districts when farmers tried to move ahead by breaking the barricades, resulting in clashes and police using force. Cops resorted to teargas shells near Jethuke village on the Barnala-Bathinda stretch of the Bathinda-Chandigarh national highway. Clashes also occurred at Tapa in Barnala district, near the ring road of Bathinda towards Muktsar, and at Mehla Chowk village in Sangrur. While the protests led to blockades on the Bathinda-Chandigarh national highway—stalling ambulances and school buses— farmer leaders argued that it was the police barricades that halted traffic. BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) state vice-president Jhanda Singh Jethuke and senior functionary Roop Singh Channa claimed that thousands of activists were forcibly prevented from reaching the protest site. BOX: ‘Anti-farmer face unmasked' Jamhuri Front and other farmer, labourer and employee organisations slammed the state govt for using force. Front conveners Prof Parminder Singh, Prof A K Maleri, Buta Singh and Yashpal said that the AAP govt has unmasked its real anti-farmer face. A delegation of farmers and labourers also met Bathinda deputy commissioner Rajesh Dhiman and demanded the release of all those detained. MSID:: 127990912 413 |