Protesting Indian farmers celebrated the festival of Lohri by burning the copies of the three farm laws on Wednesday.
The festival falls on January 13 to mark the beginning of spring. People in Indian Punjab celebrate the festival with edible items like jaggery, popcorn, rewri and sesame offered to the bonfire. And incidentally, Wednesday also marks the 50th day of the farmers’ protest on the outskirts of Delhi.
Farmers, owing allegiance to different organisations, also shouted slogans against the BJP-led government and slammed Modi for not acceding to their demands. They demanded that the new farm laws should be repealed.
Farmers, including women under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, held a protest at Pandherkalan village in Amritsar.
“We burnt the copies of the farm laws as a mark of protest against these legislations,” said committee’s general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher in Amritsar.
Similar protests were also held at other places in Amritsar.
“Until the Centre accepts all the demands of farmers, our protest will continue,” said Mr Pandher.
“We will not accept these farm laws as they are not in the interest of the farming community and the government should repeal these legislations,” said a protester.
Farmers at Hoshiarpur, Sangrur and Kapurthala also burnt the copies of the laws.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday had stayed the implementation of controversial new farm laws till further orders and decided to set up a four-member committee to resolve the impasse between the Centre and farmers’ unions protesting at Delhi borders.
