All you need to know about the farmers protest in Haryana

Addressing the mahapanchayat, some farm leaders had criticised the government for its 'anti-farmers' policies and police actions against their leaders.

Farmers protesting over the MSP for sunflower seeds at Pipli in Haryana's Kurukshetra called off their stir on Tuesday night after an assurance from the state government of "appropriate price" for the crop.

The farmers had on Monday gathered in Kurukshetra to hold Mahapanchayat over their demand for Minimum Support Price for sunflower seed, out on roads in the city. They had also announced a complete blockade of the national highway.

Let's take a closer look at their protest and the reason behind it.

Why are the farmers protesting

On June 12, a large number of farmers gathered at Pipli in Kurukshetra to attend a mahapanchayat being held to press for minimum support price for sunflower seeds. The farmers were demanding that the state government procure sunflowers at an MSP of Rs 6,400 per quintal.

Under Bhavantar Bharpai Yojana—price difference payment scheme—the state government was giving Rs 1,000 per quintal as interim support for sunflower crops sold below MSP.

Addressing the mahapanchayat, some farm leaders criticised the government for its "anti-farmers" policies and police actions against their leaders. Along with the procurement of sunflower seeds at MSP they demanded that the protesters arrested in Shahabad recently be released.

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Who are the arrested farmers that this protest seeks to release?

On June 6, farmers led by Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni) chief Gurnam Singh Charuni blocked the national highway near Shahabad for over six hours demanding that the government procure sunflower seeds at minimum support price (MSP). Police used water cannons and resorted to lathicharge to disperse the protesters.

Later, nine BKU (Charuni) leaders, including its president, were arrested over various charges, including rioting and unlawful assembly.

Who has expressed support to the farmers?

Leaders of various khaps, Tikait and Olympic medal-winning wrestler Bajrang Punia, one of the grapplers who has been demanding action against outgoing Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for alleged sexual harassment of women grapplers, had attended the mahapanchayat in Pipli on June 12 in support of the farmers.

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Tikait also sat with the protesting farmers on the national highway.

Farmers from Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan too attended the gathering.

Political slugfest over farmers protest

Farmers protest has been gaining a lot of political attention of late after former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in a stunning allegation claimed that the micro-blogging platform had faced government pressure and threats of shutdown during farmer's protest, a statement that evoked a sharp rebuttal from Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar who termed it an "outright lie".

During the protests in January 2021, there was a lot of misinformation and even reports of genocide which were definitely fake, the minister said adding that the government was obligated to remove misinformation from the platform as it had the potential to further inflame the situation based on fake news.

Opposition parties quickly latched on to Dorsey's comments to attack the government. Congress said when farmers were protesting, the "coward dictator sitting in Delhi was trying to suppress this news."

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal also came ahead in support of the protesting farmers as he said that It was "wrong" if attempts were made to scuttle farmers' protests.

Rajya Sabha MP and leader of Shiv Sena-UBT Priyanka Chaturvedi said "The BJP and the government tried to crush the farmers' protest, They tried to defame the movement, They called farmers terrorists, They called farmers anti-national, They lathi-charged the farmers, They let farmers die…They tried to silence the opposition in parliament, They tried to arm-twist social media platforms to mute the voices of those supporting the farmers.”

As the farmer protests continue, Delhi-Chandigarh national highway remains blocked as the farmers were scheduled to meet today to mull an action plan.

Farmers end agitation after talks with Kurukshetra administration

Rakesh Tikait said after fresh talks with the district administration in the evening, the farmers decided to end the protest in Kurukshetra's Pipli and the national highway blockade will be lifted.

Kurukshetra Deputy Commissioner (DC) Shantanu Sharma said that farmers have been assured of "appropriate price" for sunflower crop.

(With agency inputs)