Chandigarh: Less than a year after the Bhagwant Mann government came to power in Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) honeymoon period with Punjab farmers appears to be over.
Believed to be one of the chief drivers of AAP’s landslide victory in Punjab this March, farmers in Punjab have been up in arms against the Mann government for various reasons in the past few months. The protesters claim they are completely disillusioned by the way the government has been tackling their problems.
Punjab Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal Thursday issued a press statement listing the various “pro-farmers” decisions taken by the Mann government since they took over in March. At the press conference, Dhaliwal took great pains to explain how the government had brought in a minimum support price (MSP) for moong dal, given jobs to the next of kin of the farmers who died during the farmers’ agitation in 2020-2021, and reduced stubble burning in the state.
The statement appeared to be an attempt to mollify protesters at the Malbros International Limited in Mansurwal village in Zira tehsil, Ferozepur. Steered primarily by farmer unions, the protest entered its fifth month in December, with protesters demanding the closure of the Malbros factory they claim is responsible for polluting their soil, air, and groundwater.
However, despite Dhaliwal’s statements, farmers remain unimpressed.
“It is clear that there is a huge difference between what the AAP had promised and what they are finally delivering,” said Surjit Singh Phool, head of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Krantikari), a farmers’ union that’s part of the ongoing Zira Sanjha Morcha agitation.
BKU (Krantikari) isn’t the only union at the Zira protest — the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a coalition of several farmer unions that spearheaded the year-long protests against the now-repealed farm laws, is also part of it.
