The farmers protesting against the farm laws have called for a nationwide ‘Chakka Jam’ on 6th January during which they would block the national and state highways from 12 pm to 3 pm to demonstrate their protest against the harassment meted out by the authorities to them including the ban imposed by the government on internet services near the Delhi border areas of Ghazipur, Singh and Tikri, the epicenter of farmers’ protest.
Ahead of the nationwide ‘chakka jam‘, leader of Congress Rahul Gandhi said that the peaceful ‘satyagraha’ of the farmers who are the ‘annadatas’ of the country is of national interest and called out the farm laws as “harmful” for the country.
READ ALSO | Chakka Jam protest program held on National Highway
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also criticized the government over the farm laws by posting a picture of the multi-layered barricading at one of the farmer protest sites on Twitter. She commented, “Why do you scare by the wall of fear?”
अन्नदाता का शांतिपूर्ण सत्याग्रह देशहित में है- ये तीन क़ानून सिर्फ़ किसान-मज़दूर के लिए ही नहीं, जनता व देश के लिए भी घातक हैं।
पूर्ण समर्थन!#FarmersProtests
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 6, 2021
On Friday, the Congress had extended support to the countrywide ‘chakka jam’ called by the farmer unions, stating that the party workers would stand shoulder to shoulder with the farmers in their protest. Congress also slammed Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar who defended the farm laws in Rajya Sabha and criticized the opposition. Congress alleged that the agriculture minister’s comments were factually misleading and also objectionable.
READ ALSO| Many highways including Delhi-Jaipur highway blocked during chakka jam in Rajasthan
Congress general secretary (organization) Venugopal said that joining in spirit, the Congress workers will ensure that ambulance services, elderly, patients, women, children, and school buses are not affected by the bandh call. He noted the protest as a true Gandhian way of protest. Further, Venugopal alleged that the power-drunk Modi government is leaving no stone unturned to cripple the protest and defame the protestors.
The government has had eleven rounds of talks with the farmers over the past two months and yet no amicable solution has been achieved between the parties. Recently, the international community also stepped in to support the farmers’ protest and criticized the Modi government’s actions calling them out as violating human rights.
