March to Punjab Raj Bhawan foiled, Cong protests at party office

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 15

Led by Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Sunil Jakhar and joined by several ministers and legislators, a large number of Congress workers today set out on a protest march from the Congress Bhawan here to Punjab Raj Bhawan, demanding the repeal of farm laws. However, they were immediately stopped by the cops from marching towards Raj Bhawan, forcing the party leaders to stage a dharna near the Congress Bhawan.

Addressing the protesters, Jakhar said the central government was behaving in an arrogant manner and did not have any respect for democratic practices and public opinion. “It is the arrogance of the central government that is preventing it from repealing the laws which have been outrightly rejected by the farming community across the country,” Jakhar said, while warning against the prolonged stalemate on the issue.

He said it was after a long struggle by the Congress that constitutional institutions had been set up and strengthened, and now the BJP was trying to undermine all such institutions as it had hardly any value or respect for them. “Arrogance of the central government was not only challenging but undermining the democratic and constitutional institutions of the country,” he said.

Paying glowing tributes to the farmers who laid down their lives during the ongoing protests, party leaders said they were the martyrs of the movement and held the Modi government responsible for their martyrdom.

“The way the central government was responsible for pushing our soldiers into the death trap in Galwan heights by the lack of will and planning, in a similar way the government is accountable for pushing our farmers to death,” he said.