Bharat Bandh By Farmers’ Organizations: All You Need To Know

The central government has passed a total of three bills (Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance; and Farm Services Bill and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill) in the name of “Agricultural Sector’s Reformatory and Development”, and the Indian farmers are unsatisfied with two of them.

Read about the Bills in detail, here.

On the dissatisfaction over the bills, the Indian farmers along with various Farmer committees across several states and opposition parties have been protesting against the unjust bills. Adding more weightage to their protests, they even decided to go on a nationwide strike, Bharat Bandh today, on 25th September 2020.

And TSA is here to give you a full account of this Bharat Bandh. Read along…

Who called the Bharat Bandh?

Indian farmers with the support of All India Farmers Union (AIFU), Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), All India Kisan Mahasangh (AIKM), and All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) announced a nationwide strike, supported by over two dozens farmers’ organizations across several states like Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

Which other committees supported the Bharat Bandh?

Ten central trade unions and sectoral federations generously supported the nationwide strike in the wake of the unjust Farm Bill. These trade unions and sectoral federations are:

National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)

All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC)

Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS)

Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)

All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC)

Trade Union Coordination Centre (TUCC)

Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)

All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU)

Labour Progressive Federation (LPF)

Union Trade Union Congress (UTUC)

Which Opposition Political Parties supported the Bharat Bandh?

A total of 18 political parties, including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, the Left parties, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Samajwadi Party (SP), Trinamool Congress, The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), supported the Bharat Bandh and insisted on the President to not sign the bills.

Which states were affected?

Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, West Bengal, Kerala and Uttarakhand.

• Punjab

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) observed a three-hour chakka jam (road blockade) across Punjab from 11am to 2pm in all constituencies. Due to which, most of the businesses remained shut as the movement of vehicles came to a standstill. The sale of essential commodities such as milk also remained affected, as said by the farm bodies.

• Haryana

Railways and roadways came under blockade in districts of Karnal, Hisar and some other places too.

Farm bodies performed sit-in demonstrations in front of district collectorates, and every agriculture mandi in the state was observed shut.

• Uttar Pradesh

Road blockades took place at all national and state highways in the early hours from 11am to 2pm. And just like Haryana, the agriculture mandis remained closed in UP as well, mostly in west UP in places like Meerut, Bulandshahar, Saharanpur, etc.

• Bihar

RJD and Congress came together in starting agitations along with raising slogans against the government, especially at all the district headquarters.

Later, state police was directed to prevent road blockades to avoid road and rail traffic.

A clash broke out in Patna between workers of the BJP and Pappu Yadav’s Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) after JAP workers tried to enter BJP office while protesting against farm bills.

• Rajasthan

           Protests took place in Jaipur and northern districts such as Sikar, Nagaur and Kota.

•  Delhi and NCR

• Karnataka 

Only the movement of essentials was allowed by the farm bodies, while all the other traffic was kept blocked. Farmers blocked the highway in Mandya.

• Maharashtra

Other than milk, no farm produce was available for sale.

Traffic at the national highway was blocked for 3 hours.

• Gujarat

All the farm bodies came forward at district headquarters for protests.

•  West Bengal

All India Kisan Sabha blocked roads and highways at several places, including the district of Burdwan.

Farmer’s wing of TMC staged a protest in Kolkata earlier today against recently passed agricultural laws

• Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu farmers protest outside Trichy collector’s office

Farmers from National South Indian River Interlinking Farmers’ Association sit outside Collector’s office in Trichy with human skulls, chained hands and nooses around their necks to demonstrate against recent Farm Bills.

How many Highways were Blocked?

Amritsar-Delhi National Highway

Ayodhya-Lucknow Highway

Delhi- Pauri highway

Karnataka-Tamil Nadu highway

How many trains were affected?

Two trains were cancelled completely, namely, Amritsar-Haridwar train and New Delhi-Jammu Tawi Express. Whereas a total of 17 trains were partially cancelled, namely,

• Train Number 00466 Amritsar-Guwahati partially cancelled between Amritsar- Saharanpur on 25 September 2020
• Train Number 00902 Jammu Tawi- Bandra Terminus partially cancelled between Jammu Tawi-Delhi on 24 and 26 September 2020
• Train number 02904 Amritsar-Mumbai Central Golden Temple Mail partially cancelled between Amritsar – Ambala Cantt from 25 to 27 September 2020
• Train Number 02408 Amritsar-New Jalpaiguri Karambhoomi Superfast partially cancelled between Amritsar-Ambala Cantt on 25 September 2020
• Train Number 02925 Bandra Terminus-Amritsar partially cancelled between Ambala Cantt -Amtitsar up to 25 September 2020
• Train Number 02926 Amritsar-Bandra Terminus partially cancelled between Amritsar- Ambala Cantt on 25 and 26 September 2020
• Train Number 02715 Nanded-Amritsar Sachkhand Express partially cancelled between New Delhi- Amritsar up to 25 September 2020
• Train Number 02716 Amritsar – Nanded Sachkhand Express partially cancelled between Amritsar-New Delhi on 25 and 26 September 2020
• Train Number 04673 Jayanagar -Amritsar Shaheed Express partially cancelled between Ambala Cantt- Amritsar up to 24 September 2020
• Train Number 04674 Amritsar -Jayanagar Shaheed Express partially cancelled Amritsar-Ambala Cantt on 25 September 2020
• Train Number 04649 Jaynagar -Amritsar Saryu Yamuna Express partially cancelled between Ambala Cantt- Amritsar on 25 September 2020
• Train Number 04650 Amritsar -Jaynagar Saryu Yamuna Express partially cancelled between Amritsar- Ambala Cantt on 26 September 2020
• Train Number 03308 Firozpur-Dhanbad partially cancelled between Amritsar- Ambala Cantt from 24 to 26 September 2020
• Train Number 05933 Dibrugarh-Amritsar partially cancelled between Ambala Cantt- Amritsar on 25 September 2020
• Train Number 04653 New Jalpaiguri-Amritsar Karambhoomi SF partially cancelled between Saharanpur- Amritsar on 25 September 2020
• Train Number 04651 Jaynagar – Amritsar Humsafar Express partially cancelled between Delhi- Amritsar on 25 September 2020
• Train Number 04652 Amritsar- Jaynagar Express partially cancelled between Delhi-Amritsar on 27 September 2020

Who else supported the Farmers Protest? 

Former IAS Officers

A group of 14 retired IAS officers of Punjab appealed to the Centre to resolve the crisis in consultation with state governments and stakeholders, including agitating farmers. “Most of their concerns are genuine and well-founded,” said the group in a statement. 

Read More: Here.

Celebrities

Celebrities from Punjab industry like Gurnam Bhullar, Diljit Dosanjh, Harbhajan Maan, Amrit Maan and others took to their social handle and showed their support.

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This post’s research work was co-handled by Sami Majid and Faraz Ahmed.