Farmers’ Strike: Protest Turns Violent in Jaipur, Police Resort to Lathicharge

Protesters threw vegetables at police.

Jaipur, June 1: Farmers’ strike took a turn for the worse here on Friday when clashes erupted and the police had to resort to lathicharge, said media reports. Farmers in Jaipur, like others in states like Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, began their ten-day strike in the morning, threatening to cut supplies unless their demands were met.

Among their demands are a minimum support price (MSP) for their crops and loan waivers. In Jaipur, several farmers dumped vegetables and fruits, and poured milk on the streets. The situation snowballed with the police resorting to lathicharge in order to bring the situation under control, reported Zeenews.com. Hundreds of protesting and sloganeering farmers were hit and many resorted to throwing vegetables at police personnel.

Protesting farmers near Jaipur dump milk from tanker on streetshttps://t.co/0YXannMt6b pic.twitter.com/g7MkYZRO0D

— Zee News (@ZeeNews) June 1, 2018

According to news agency PTI, a decision to stop supplies starting from June 1 till June 10 was taken by farmers under the banner of Kisan Ekta Manch and Rashtriya Kisan Maha Sangh. The two organisations represent 172 farmer bodies. Balbir Singh Rajewal, president of Bharat Kisan Union also said that farmers have been told not to send supplies to cities but can sell in villages. He blamed the Central and state governments for not preventing farmer suicides and for not implementing minimum income guarantee scheme and recommendations of Swaminathan Commission report.

The report said several farmer unions have called for a ‘Bharat Bandh’ this Sunday which would impact states like Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.