If there were still doubts that the ongoing farmers’ agitation is not organic but a well-thought-out plan to pressurise the Modi government, a report published in Navbharat Times decisively puts to rest the ambivalence surrounding the nature of the ongoing protests.
The report states that a large convoy of about 1,500 vehicles from 1000 villages of Punjab is about to reach the demonstration site along the Delhi border. This convoy will replenish the fatigued and tired protesters who have been demonstrating at the site for weeks now, in a bid to coerce the central government into repealing the newly introduced farm bills.
More than 1300 tractor trolleys, carrying people, food, clothing and other necessary equipment are expected to reach Delhi border from Punjab by this weekend, Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti said. This is the same organisation which organised state-wide ‘Rail Roko’ agitation in the state in September this year to oppose the new agriculture laws passed by the government.
The report further mentions that Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti had candidly admitted that the convoy reaching the protest site would replace those were involved in the agitation from the last two weeks.
Satnam Singh Pannu said, “There is already a raft of people present at the Delhi borders. In such a situation, we will have to find a place to stay. If we don’t find any site, we will hunker down at the place where we can stay. In such a situation, we have to find a way. Apart from all this, we already have a ‘stage’ from which we can continue our protests. Those who are present at the protest site for a long time now and would return home, their place will be occupied by the inbound protesters.”
Protesters along Delhi borders enjoy massage parlours, gym langars and cook Pizzas and other delicacies
Earlier today, even as Delhi residents chafed at being held hostage to the ongoing protests along the borders, videos of protesters enjoying massage parlours, gym langars and demonstrators cooking and savouring pizzas led many to wonder if the protests were meticulously planned. Several netizens wondered how can they ‘join’ the protests where demonstrators had turned the public roads into a picnic spot by baking and distributing Pizzas to the so-called protestors.
Pro-Khalistani supporters hijack the farmers’ protest
The involvement of Khalistani proponents in the protests also seed doubts about the authenticity of the ongoing farmers’ protests. On several instances of blockades called out by the agitating demonstrators, Khalistani slogans were raised, and posters of Khalistani terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale were held. Deep Sidhu, who had become the face of the farmers’ protests after his video of arguing with a security official went viral, was seen in an interview with Barkha Dutt, defending Bhindranwale and hailing him as a revolutionary fighter who fought for a strong federal structure.
Several so-called protesters who had participated in the farmers’ protest were also seen gloating over the former PM Indira Gandhi’s assassination and dishing out menacing threats of meting out a similar fate to PM Modi if he refuses to heed their demands.
Khalistanis based out of India extend their support to the farmers’ agitation
Khalistani supporters based out of India also showed an eager alacrity to associate themselves with the ongoing protests. The Pro-Khalistani group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) on Monday threatened that they would close down the Indian diplomatic missions in London, Birmingham, Frankfurt, Vancouver, Toronto, Washington DC, San Francisco and New York on December 10 through cars, tractors and truck rallies. It is a different thing that not a single protester turned up for the protest.
With Khalistanis being involved in the farmers’ protests, the shady role of the SFJ was being analysed as more and more details that emerged pointed towards the possible interference of pro-Khalistan elements to hijack the farmers’ protest. The Khalistan organisation SFJ, funded by Pakistan, had earlier declared a grant of $1 million for farmers in Punjab and Haryana in lieu of their support for Khalistan.
On 23rd September, it was reported that the SFJ had attempted to capitalise on the ongoing protests by farmers and had declared that it would distribute $1 million among farmers who had defaulted on agricultural loans.
