Since the early hours of Monday (21 August), the Punjab Police have arrested several leaders of 16 farmer unions throughout the state. Reportedly, these farmer unions are being led by the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC). As per media reports, the Police have carried out these preventive arrests ahead of protests these farmer unions have announced in state capital Chandigarh on the 22nd of August.
The arrested farmer leaders include Sarvan Singh Pandher who is the state president of KMSC; Baldeep Singh, the press secretary of BKU (Krantikari faction); Kanwardilip Singh, the state press secretary of KMSC; Chamkaur Singh and Borh Singh, both leaders of BKU (Behramke faction).
The police raids are still ongoing and more farmer leaders may be arrested in these subsequent raids, as per media reports.
The Police action has been carried out a day before the scheduled protest announced by these farmer unions in Chandigarh. On August 22, they called for a major protest against the non-payment of relief measures to the flood-affected farmers.
Although several members of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) have condemned the preventive arrests of the leaders of these farmer unions, these unions are not a part of the SKM coalition.
Prior to the arrests, senior officers of Chandigarh and Punjab Police held negotiations with the functionaries of these farmer unions till Sunday night. The delegation of farmers was led by Sarvan Singh Pandher (state President KMSC) whereas the official team was led by Chandigarh DGP Praveer Ranjan and Punjab Police ADGP Arpit Shukla. Additionally, two officers from Haryana Police were also present at the meeting. But the negotiations failed to achieve anything substantive.
Later on Sunday night, the leaders of the farmer unions met Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit who assured them that he would ask the officers of both Punjab and Haryana to hear their grievances.
In the wake of failed negotiations on Sunday night, Punjab Police reportedly went on an arrest spree and arrested several farmer leaders on Monday morning.
In recent times, the North Indian states including Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, and Uttarakhand have been lashed by heavy rains and flooding. According to an estimate by farmer leaders, farmers in these regions have suffered a loss of more than Rs 20,000 crore due to inundation and flooding of their fields.
The state president of Bharatiya Kisan Mazdoor Union, Suresh Koth said that the farmers have not received any concrete answer from the government. He claimed that farmers are being harassed by this government. As a result, various farmer unions have appealed for Gherao and would stage a protest on 22nd August in Chandigarh. Around 20,000 farmers from different states are expected to participate in this protest.