A day after they put on hold the 'Delhi Chalo' march following the death of a farmer in Khanauri, the protesters will decide on their future course of action on Friday evening. The clashes between the farmers and security personel on Wednesday had also injured 12 police personnel at Khanauri, one of the two protest sites on the Punjab-Haryana border.
Following the death, Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal has gone to Khanauri to take stock of the situation.
The clashes have also prompted the opposition to target the government with Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann warning of legal action against the Haryana police. Sharing his pain over the death of the 21-year-old Subhkaran Singh, Mann said the Centre had to answer why the farmer of Punjab could not go to the capital of his own country. "We assure to help the family financially and socially in all aspects. After the post-mortem, appropriate action will be taken against the responsible officials," he added.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal too hit out at the Centre. "Was it for this day that we fought for independence, that one day the governments elected by us in our own country will martyr our own sons like the British? We are completely with Shubhakaran and will ensure strict punishment to his murderers," Kejriwal said in a post on X.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Anurag Thakur told reporters on Wednesday evening that dialogue as the only way to address farmers' concerns. "Earlier also we were ready for discussions, still we are ready and in the future also we will be ready. we don't have any problem, they are our 'Annadatas'...," he said.
He also batted for the Modi government, stating that the NDA has allocated more funds for farmers compared to the UPA's expenditure during its tenure.
"Despite the increase in the prices of fertilizers across the world, we prevented the rise in fertilizer and urea costs for farmers. The Government of India provided subsidies amounting to Rs 3 lakh crore. We worked continuously in the last three years and brought Nano Urea and not only this, I want to tell you that in the 10 years of UPA, Rs 5.50 lakh crore were spent on MSP for wheat, paddy, and oilseeds. The Modi government has allocated Rs 18 lakh 39 thousand crores, which is more than 3.50 times," Thakur said.
"If I give you the example of pulses, the UPA government spent Rs 1936 crore, the Modi government spent more than Rs 55,000 crore," he added. The Union Minister continued his attacks on the UPA government and said that during the time of Congress, there was neither respect for farmers nor funding.
