New Delhi: All India Kisan Congress (AIKC) chairman and Punjab Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira on Friday condemned the barricading of the Ghaggar flyover on NH-44 (Panipat-Jalandhar) to thwart attempts by protesting farmers to enter Delhi and also alleged attacks on farmers by lobbing tear gas shells. He also demanded to include the legal guarantee for the minimum support price (MSP) and farm loan waiver. NH-44 is a major thoroughfare in Northern India, connecting Delhi with Amritsar and other major cities en route.

The farmers, who rode on tractors and trucks from Haryana and Punjab towards Delhi, are protesting to compel the Union government to provide a legal guarantee for MSP. They were stopped at the Sambhu border, which the Haryana government barricaded.

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Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, the Punjab lawmaker mentioned the 2020-21 farmer’s protest in which he claimed that almost 600-700 farmers lost their lives and said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not even condemn such violence.

He highlighted the promises made by the government to make MSP a legal guarantee, withdraw cases registered against the farmers in the last agitation and compensation to the farmers and their families.

He said none of these promises were met by the central government. Khaira also alleged that the government does not appear to be sincere in addressing the farmer’s crisis.

Farmers from Punjab under the banner of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Morcha began their march towards Delhi on Feb 13. Khaira said everyone in Congress highly condemned the creation of a new border and heavy police deployments, which have hit farmers, heightening tensions at state borders.

On Friday, the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), which is part of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, called for a Gramin Bharat Bandh, citing a host of unmet demands of farmers.

Khaira stated Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s announcement of providing a legal guarantee of MSP to every farmer on crops as per the Swaminathan Commission.

The Congress has promised a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) to the farmers if the INDIA alliance is voted to power after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Also Read: Centre committed to increase farmers’ income: Minister

Khaira claimed that the government has waived loans worth Rs.15 lakh crore of corporate houses in the name of the savings Bank system and failed to discuss farmer’s loans worth Rs. 17 lakh crore.

He quoted a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which showed data from the last 23 years, citing that Indian farmers are continuously running into losses and are exploited by private purchasers.

Khaira said that more than 100 farmers had been injured and a 78-year-old farmer, protesting at the Shambhu border already has died. The Punjab MLA asked the Centre to let the protest led by Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) enter Delhi and allocate them an open place to take their demand to the government.

“The Congress stands with farmers and salutes their persistence and struggle against the tyranny of the BJP” Khaira said.