Farmer leaders claim Bharat Bandh successful

Farmer leaders claimed on Tuesday their ‘Bharat Bandh’ against the new farm laws was “successful” and had an impact in 25 states. Addressing a press conference at a protest site on the Singhu border, they said the “super bandh” made the government open its “eyes and ears”.The farmer leaders said the protestors did not go to Burari ground as it is an “open jail” and demanded that Ramlila Ground be given to them. They stressed that they don’t want to trouble the people of Delhi and Haryana. “The ‘Bharat Bandh’ against the new farm laws was successful and had an impact in 25 states. It was ‘super bandh’ from Kashmir to Kanyakumari,” Haryana Bharatiya Kisan Union president Gurnam Singh Chaduni said.

BKU leader Bhog Singh Mansa said the farmers will hold discussions after the meeting with Shah and announce their future course of action on Wednesday. Fishermen, sand mine and stone quarry workers, industrial federation, students, railway personnel federation, intellectuals and writers all supported the bandh, he claimed, adding “it became successful because every citizen of India made it his own protest”.

There was no major impact of Bharat Bandh called by farmers' unions on Tuesday as all markets, shops, banks, government and private offices, and other commercial establishments functioned normally across the country. Normal life remained unaffected in most parts of the country including Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu division as shops and commercial establishments remained operational in these states with transport plying normally on the roads.

Traffic in Mumbai was hardly affected with trains, BEST buses, and taxis plying as usual. In Maharashtra, the bandh has been symbolically supported by about 48 trade unions, labour organisations, and social organisations under a joint action task force of Jan Andolanachi Sangharsha Samiti. Members of a farmers' organization staged a 'rail roko' in Buldhana district as part of the Bharat Bandh.