Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 20

At the Rally Ground of Sector 25, a crowd of over 7,000 people attended the first mahapanchayat in the City Beautiful. Propounded by the leaders of farmer unions, the dialectical camaraderie between Punjab and Haryana converged on the stage where some speakers address crowds in ‘puadhi’ language. The Tricolour stood tall amidst flags of several farmer unions and slogans of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ and ‘Kisan, Mazdoor Ekta, Zindabaad’ exuded the fervour of nationalism.Farmer leader Joginder Singh Ugrahan addresses the kisan mahapanchayat at the Rally Ground in Sector 25 on Saturday. Pradeep Tewari

The key speakers at the event, Joginder Singh Ugrahan of the BKU (Ekta Ugrahan), Ruldu Singh Mansa of the Punjab Kisan Union and Gurnam Singh Chaduni of the BKU, Haryana, spoke about the alleged BJP government-corporate nexus. “While Adani’s making silos or godowns for grains in Moga and Haryana, Modi’s making the laws,” alleged Joginder Singh Ugrahan.

Gurnam Singh Chaduni alleged, “Every time our supporters here have protested against the farm laws, the authorities have used violence as means to silence them.” He added: “If we lose this fight for our food, we will never be able to fight for our rights again. If these agro-business laws are exercised, everyone’s food will land in only a few people’s godowns.”

Sadhu Singh Sarangpur, one of the speakers, took to ‘puadhi’ language as he rooted for farm laws to be revoked, and Ruldu Singh Mansa cheered the people of Chandigarh for supporting farmers. “It is heartwarming how these farm laws reached urban spaces such as Chandigarh. It is encouraging that the City Beautiful, the hub of education and educated people, is backing us,” he said.