A delegation of 15 Opposition Members of Parliament on Thursday went to the Ghazipur border to see the situation at the farmers’ protest site, heavily barricaded by the Delhi Police, and meet those protesting against the three Central farm laws for more than two months.
Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who coordinated the visit, said because of unprecedented barricading, they could not meet the farmers. Describing it as “the high-handedness of the government”, she said, “We are elected representatives who want to meet their own people, but we were not being allowed. We were made to alight three km before the border,” she told reporters.
She was accompanied by the NCP’s Supriya Sule, the DMK’s K. Kanimozhi and Tiruchi Siva and the TMC’s Sougata Roy. Members of the National Conference, Rashtriya Loktrantik Party and the Indian Union Muslim League were also part of the delegation.
Ms. Badal, who resigned from the Union Cabinet in September against the government decision to implement the farm laws, said the Lok Sabha Speaker was not allowing a discussion on the farmers’ protest. The purpose of the visit, she said, was to inform the Speaker about the situation at the protest site. “We are here to gather first-hand information so that we can discuss this issue [farmer protest] in Parliament.”
‘It is unprecedented’
She took on the Delhi Police for the heavy barricading that rendered any movement impossible. “It’s unprecedented. The fortification is like that at the Pakistan border,” she said.
“They are treating farmers as foreigners. They are being deprived of basic amenities. When we can’t go to meet them, how could they come to Delhi for a dialogue? How will the ambulances and fire brigade move in case of an emergency? It seems the farmers have been left to die,” she stated.
Ms Sule said that she hadn’t seen such extreme aggression before. She told a news agency that they came from a culture that considered “annadata (farmer) as god”. “We stand with farmers who are being oppressed by the Central government. Our request is that the government discuss the issue with farmers so that we all could give them justice.”
