New Delhi: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh Wednesday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Haryana government for the lathi-charge on protesting farmers in Haryana’s Kurukshetra.

“BJP’s anti-farmer attitude is coming to the fore again and again. Sometimes farmers are attacked by bringing Land Acquisition Ordinance and black agricultural laws and sometimes they are attacked directly, as happened in Kurukshetra,” wrote the Congress leader in a post on Twitter.

Jairam Ramesh picked up the demand raised by the famers to set a Minimum Selling Price (MSP) by the government to purchase their sunflower seed.

“We strongly condemn the lathi charge on the farmers who were protesting peacefully. The government should fulfill their demand for MSP and not try to brutally suppress their voice,” he added.

भाजपा का किसान विरोधी रवैया बार-बार सामने आ रहा है। कभी भूमि अधिग्रहण अध्यादेश और काले कृषि कानून लाकर किसानों पर हमले किए जाते हैं तो कभी उनपर सीधा वार किया जाता है, जैसा कि कुरुक्षेत्र में हुआ।

शांतिपूर्ण ढंग से प्रदर्शन कर रहे किसानों पर हुए लाठीचार्ज की हम कड़ी भर्त्सना…

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) June 7, 2023

Farmer’ demand

The protesting farmers are demading MSP of Rs 6,400 for their seeds that would help them to sell their crops at a standard cost to reduce chances of loss.

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The farmers have alleged that they are forced to sell their seeds to private buyers at Rs 4,000 as the government denied to buy their crops on the demanded price.

साथियों गुरनाम सिंह चढ़ूनी जी और अन्य 700 किसानों पे कल मुक़द्दमे दर्ज किए है और प्रधान जी को आज 11 बजे कोर्ट में प्रशाशन द्वारा पेश किया जाएगा साथियों एमएसपी पूरे देश का मुद्दा है इस आंदोलन में उनके सभी किसान साथी साथ दें! हरियाणा के साथ जिस भी राज्य में जाम लगा सकते है लगाए!

— Gurnam Singh Charuni (@GurnamsinghBku) June 7, 2023

Lathi-charge on farmers; Gurnam Charuni arrested

In a violent confrontation in Kurukshetra’s Shahbad on Tuesday evening, famer leader Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni) leader Gurnam Singh Charuni along with 8 leaders of his outfit were arrested.

The protestors had jammed the National Highway 44 to ask the government to set MSP for sunflower seed. However, the police resorted to lathi-charge and use of water canons when the farmers did not empty the national highway, which was kept blocked for at least 6 hours.

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Threatent to block NH again if Gurnam is not released 

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson and prominent farmer leader Rakesh Tikait Shahbad to join the ongoing farmers’ dharna. The BKU leader warned that if government failed to free Gurnam Singh Charuni then, the national highway will be blocked again.

He also asserted that the bugle has been blown and the protest to seek the MSP as demanded will be continued until it is fulfilled.