Farmers' protests gain momentum in Rajasthan

Protests against the Centre's new farm laws gained momentum in Rajasthan on Thursday as farmer organisations blocked roads and held demonstrations and rallies in solidarity with thousands gathered at the national capital's borders as part of their 'Delhi Chalo' march.

Protests against the Centre's new farm laws gained momentum in Rajasthan on Thursday as farmer organisations blocked roads and held demonstrations and rallies in solidarity with thousands gathered at the national capital's borders as part of their 'Delhi Chalo' march. A group of farmers, under the banner of Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sangharsh Samanvay Samiti, held a protest at Jaipur's Surajpole mandi and blocked the Jaipur-Delhi highway for nearly an hour to demand a repeal of the laws.

Another group staged a protest on the Rajasthan-Haryana border in Alwar district and said their numbers would rise if the Centre failed to fulfil their demands. Thousands of farmers are now camping at the border of Delhi, demanding the repeal of the three Acts that they say will lead to the phasing out of the minimum support price (MSP) system, which the government denies. Farmer unions have also called for a nationwide protest on Saturday.

"The Centre should withdraw the farm laws immediately. Such a large number of farmers are raising their voices against the anti-farmer laws but the government is taking no step to fulfil the demands," CPI(M) leader Ravindra Shukla said. Congress Seva Dal members, led by state unit president Hem Singh Shekhawat, submitted a memorandum to the collector, urging the President of India to abolish the three farm laws.

Shekhawat termed the laws "anti-farmer" and said the Centre wanted to favour industrialists, and therefore, the laws were brought. In Alwar, agitating farmers were joined by Rashtriya Kisan Mahapanchayat president Rampal Jat.

"We are waiting for the outcome of the meeting being held in Delhi. If there is no positive result, farmers will be mobilised from here," Jat said. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Railways, Commerce and Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash, who is an MP from Punjab, are holding talks with the representatives of 35 farmers' unions at the Vigyan Bhawan in the national capital.

Hundreds of farmers from 27 tehsils of the four districts of Kota division held a rally against the farm laws and submitted a memorandum to the district collector. The farmers, some of them on tractors-trolleys and two-wheelers, marched through the main roads of the city, raising slogans and holding banners and placards in their hands.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)