In an affidavit in SC, the Kisan Mahapanchayat said that it is not a part of the farmers protests blocking roads  |  Photo Credit: Times Now
New Delhi: The Kisan Mahapanchayat has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court distancing themselves from the groups of farmers who blocked roads leading to Delhi. In the affidavit, the organisation said that the ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat is neither the part of protestors nor is the members of the petitioner farmers body involved in any activity causing any temporary or permanent blockade on the road’.
The affidavit says that the farmer body parted ways from the other protesting organisations after January 26, 2021, citing disagreements over the ‘manner of protests’.
Last week, the apex court had said that ‘the farmers had already strangulated Delhi’ by blocking border’. The court had observed that if the farmers had the right to peacefully protest, the citizens of Delhi also had the right to free movement. The Mahapanchayat had told the court that it was not a part of the protests that led to the blockade of roads in the national capital. In response, the top court said that the organisation should submit its claims in an affidavit.
Okay if the public experienced inconvenience for a day: Tikait
The farmers have been protesting against the three farm laws, namely – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance, Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 – demanding that they be rolled back.
Last week, the farmer unions called for a Bharat Bandh to protest against the laws. In response to a question on the inconvenience caused to common citizens due to farmer protests and Bharat Bandh, Rakesh Tikait, leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union had said that it was ‘okay if the public experienced inconvenience for one day’.
