Bharat bandh from 11 AM-3 PM, peaceful protest, say farmers: 10 Points

Mangalore Today News Network / NDTV

New Delhi, Dec 07, 2020:    With growing support from trade unions and Opposition parties for tomorrow’s "Bharat Bandh" call, some services could get affected in Delhi - now the epicentre of farmers’ protests - and the rest of the country.

The call for a "peaceful" nationwide shutdown on December 8, a day ahead of the sixth round of talks between protesting farmers and the centre, is meant to mount pressure on the government to repeal three contentious agriculture reform laws. The protest is to show that we don’t support some of the policies of the government, Bharatiya Kisan Union Spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said. Unions have said their protest is "peaceful and will continue that way".

1) Farmers urged people to extend their support non-violently and said their protest "was symbolic" and not meant to "cause problems for the common man".

2) "Tomorrow’s Bharat Bandh is from 11 am to 3 pm. It is a symbolic protest. We will begin at 11 am so everyone can reach office on time. Work hours in offices will end by 3 pm. Services such as ambulance, even weddings, can go on as usual. People can show their card and leave," Bharatiya Kisan Union Spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said.

3) Members of farmers’ unions will block national highways and occupy toll plazas, said Harinder Singh Lakhowal, general secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Union.

4) Supply truck movement will be halted in north India, including Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, as at least 51 trade and transport unions have come out in farmers’ support. Movement of supplies could be halted across the country if government does not come around, they said.

5) Commuters in Delhi and Tamil Nadu may face some problems as some auto and taxi unions have decided to back the shutdown. Autos and those offering last-mile connectivity would continue to ply, unions said.

6) A number of bank unions - who have called for a black-band protest - have expressed solidarity with the farmers’ cause, but this is not likely to affect banking services.

7) The Bandh is likely to be most well-observed in Punjab, which has extended full support. Sit-in protests are likely in Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telanaga and northeastern states of Tripura and Assam, besides others. BJP-ruled states are likely to issue advisories.

8) Opposition parties except the Trinamool Congress - the Shiv Sena, the Congress, the DMK, the RJD, the Samajwadi Party, the NCP, the Aam Aadmi Party, the newly-minted People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration in J&K and a collection of Left outfits - have issued a joint statement extending their support and would organise demonstrations across cities tomorrow.

9) Amid growing support for the demand to repeal the "black laws", the BJP has called out the "duplicity" of the farmers and the Opposition parties on the issue of agricultural reforms. The party hit back with nuggets of the past, reminding them that allowing private players into the farm sector was their demand not so long ago.

10) "Tomorrow we will all open our offices, shops, factories, warehouses. India will not stop," vocal BJP leader Kapil Mishra tweeted in a video message that re-emphasised that farmers were being "misled". "Yogendra Yadav, (Arvind) Kejriwal, the people of Shaheen Bagh gang stop capturing Delhi repeatedly," he tweeted.