An organisation of Sikhs in Uttarakhand have called for boycotting those members of the Sikh community who support the three farm laws enacted by the Centre. The Sikhs have appealed the farmers of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh to reach Delhi and observe the martyrdom anniversary of 9th Guru of Sikhs, Guru Teg Bahadur on December 19 and push the movement further.
According to a Times of India report, President of Sikh Sangathan of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh Jasvir Singh Virk said that some Sikhs from Uttarakhand had accompanied the State Education Minister Arvind Pandey to meet Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar to support the farm laws and express solidarity with the government. Virk claimed that some of them were not even Sikhs and were merely wearing turbans to look like Sikhs. “Strangely, many of them were just wearing turbans to look like Sikhs and majority of them were not even farmers but were into sand and gravel business”, he alleged.
Virk told that a delegation of Sikhs supporting farm laws went to meet the District Magistrate in Rudrapur yesterday but they were confronted a large number of Sikh community members opposing the laws. He said that the delegation was shown black flags and slogans were raised against them. According to the report, a local named Salvinder Singh said that meetings were held in local gurudwaras yesterday wherein the Sikh community decided to boycott the community members who supported the farm laws.
Purpose of protest could be achieved through dialogue only: CJI on farmer protest
During the hearing of a petition challenging the farmer protest, the Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde had proposed setting up of an independent committee to facilitate dialogue between the government and the farmers. The CJI stressed that merely sitting in protest would not help the purpose of the protest and it was necessary to hold talks.
The farmer unions had boycotted the 6th round of talks with the government demanding the repeal of laws. The central government had agreed to make amendments in the farm laws considering the concerns of the farmers. However, the farmer representatives have said that they will accept nothing short of repeal of the laws.