Congress leaders on Friday visited Pipli in Haryana's Kurukshetra district to show solidarity with farmers who have been staging a protest against the Centre's three farm ordinances, which they claimed were "anti-farmers".
Farmers in the state are demanding a rollback of the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance; and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, promulgated by the Centre.
Members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) and other farm bodies had blocked a national highway in Kurukshetra's Pipli and clashed with police on Thursday.
Congress leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Kumari Selja, who separately visited Pipli, strongly condemned the alleged attempt to "muzzle the voice of farmers" and demanded that the cases lodged against them in connection with the protest be withdrawn.
Police had booked over 300 farmers, including Haryana BKU chief Gurnam Singh, on Friday under different sections of the IPC for violating prohibitory orders and damaging property.
Former chief minister Hooda said the government was taking "anti-farmers and anti-people decisions", and when people rose against this injustice, they were silenced on the strength of police batons.
Hooda, who is the leader of the opposition, said the BJP-JJP coalition government "has committed an unforgivable sin by using batons against the farmers who reached the Pipli rally to protest against government's policies".
"Whichever government has used lathis or bullets against the farmers did not last long in power," Hooda said.
He reminded the people about the 2002 Kandela incident in Jind in which nine farmers were killed in police firing. The Congress leader said that the then INLD government was later thrown out of power by farmers and the people of the state.
"At that time too, we fought along with the farmers and will fight for them and with them today. We give a 10-day ultimatum to the government to take back cases registered against the farmers involved in this movement. We and the farmers will otherwise have no other option but to launch a big movement against the government," he said.
Hitting out at the Khattar government, Hooda said the ruling dispensation is "trying to escape its crime by trying to brand the struggle of farmers as a movement of Congress".
"Every farmer knows that the movement is not sponsored by the Congress but has been organised by the farmers," he said.
The Haryana unit of the ruling BJP had on Thursday alleged that the Pipli protest was "Congress sponsored".
State Agriculture Minister J.P. Dalal said that some elements were trying to mislead the farmers on the ordinances.
"These are in the interest of farmers, but some people are trying to spread the falsehood that these will impact the MSP system. We have said many times that the MSP regime will continue," said Dalal.
Senior Congress leader Surjewala said farmers and farm labourers are the backbone of the country, but the government is allegedly bent upon breaking their back.
"Yesterday in Haryana, the whole country witnessed the real face of the Khattar government when Kurukshetra was turned into a battlefield where police brutality was unleashed," claimed Surjewala.
"The names of M.L. Khattar, Dushyant Chautala will be written in history as those great rulers whose rule became a symbol of oppression and tyranny," Surjewala alleged.
He said the Congress will not rest till the time the ordinances are withdrawn.
Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja also met the farmers and assured full support of Congress party in their struggle.
pSelja condemned the 'brutal' lathi charge by the police on the farmers at Pipli and demanded that all cases registered in this regard be withdrawn immediately.
She said that Congress workers will hold district-level 'dharnas' throughout the state on September 21 to protest the three farm ordinances.
BKU chief, others booked
Meanwhile, the Haryana Police on Friday booked Charuni and 300 unidentified people for damaging public property and violating prohibitory orders.
Three separate FIRs were registered at the Sadar police station in Thanesar. "These FIRs have been registered against Gurnam Singh Charuni and several unknown people for unlawful assembly, causing damage to property and preventing government employees from performing their duty, SHO Naresh Kumar said.
The FIRs also include charges for the violation of the National Highway Act and the Disaster Management Act, he said.
Meanwhile, the Shahbad Markanda police lodged cases against 300 unknown people.
SHO Devinder Kumar said the attempt to murder charge was also added to the FIR as many tractor-borne farmers tried to run police personnel manning the barriers erected to stop them.
The Kurukshetra administration had imposed prohibitory orders after the farmer bodies gave a protest call in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
However, farmers belonging to the BKU and other organisations reached Pipli in large numbers, defying the prohibitory orders.
The police had raised a number of barriers to stop the farmers from reaching Pipli.
The protesters, however, managed to break many of these barriers.
The agitating farmers also blocked traffic on the national highway for over four hours, causing hardship to thousands of commuters who used village link roads to bypass Pipli.
Police resorted to lathicharge when farmers coming from Shahbad area pushed their way into the rally site. The agitating farmers also broke window panes of a fire brigade vehicle and pelted stones on the police.
