Punjab farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal ends hunger strike after 130 days
Chandigarh, Apr 6 (PTI): Punjab farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal on Sunday ended his hunger strike which he had started on November 26 last year to press for various demands of agitating farmers including a legal guarantee on the minimum support price for crops.
The announcement came a day after Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu appealed to him to end his fast-unto-death.
Union Minister Bittu and Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema welcomed Dallewal's decision.
At a 'Kisan Mahapanchayat' organised at the grain market in Sirhind in Fatehgarh Sahib district of Punjab, Dallewal said he had acceded to the request of the"sangat" to end his fast-unto-death and asserted that their fight for the legal guarantee on MSP for crops and other demands continues.
"You all have said (to me) to end the fast-unto-death. For me 'sangat' (people) is 'rabb da roop' (a form of God). I am indebted to you for looking after the agitation the way I had said. I respect your sentiments," said Dallewal, who addressed the gathering from a stretcher.
"The 'morcha' (agitation) continues. Even today I do not want to end the indefinite fast but you have asked me time and again (to end fast) and I respect it. But I want an assurance that we will put up a stronger 'morcha'. The fight is on. The MSP (guarantee) has to be taken and a bigger 'morcha' has to be put up. Do you agree on holding a bigger 'morcha'," he asked the gathering.
"The government is alert and it knows farmers can fight. The way you took care of the 'morcha', the government has seen it," he said.
He asked those present to raise their hands in a show of support for the agitation. "Dear friends, your order is like a direction of God," said Dallewal who was visibly emotional as the grain market reverberated with slogans of 'Kisan Mazdoor Ekta Zindabad' and 'Sardar Jagjit Singh Dallewal Zindabad'.
Replying to questions from media persons, he later said farmer leaders will attend the meeting with the Centre on May 4.
"If we do not go to the meeting, then it (the government) will have an excuse that farmers did not come to put forth their demands," he said.
Referring to the previous meetings with the central delegation, Dallewal claimed the government did not have any counter to their arguments made in support of their demands.
The development comes more than a fortnight after Punjab Police cracked down on agitating farmers, detaining their leaders in Mohali when they were returning from a meeting with a central delegation led by Agriculture Minister Chouhan in Chandigarh.
The March 19 meeting was organised to discuss the farmers' demands, especially the MSP guarantee.
Police also evicted farmers and dismantled temporary structures from the Shambhu and Khanauri border points where the sit-ins were being held.
On Saturday, Union Minister Chouhan appealed to Dallewal to end his hunger strike.
In a post on X, he said, "The ongoing dialogue between the representatives of the Government of India and the representatives of farmers' organisations regarding their demands is continuing.
"Farmer leader Shri Jagjit Singh Dallewal has now returned from hospital and we wish him a speedy recovery. We also request him to end his hunger strike and we will meet with the representatives of the farmers' organisations for talks at 11 am on May 4 as per the already decided date."
A similar appeal was made by Union minister Bittu on Saturday.
Punjab FM Cheema welcomed Dallewal's announcement and said the farmer leader had been fighting against the BJP-led central government over their various demands.
Dallewal is a senior leader of a joint forum of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), which were spearheading the agitation at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points in support of their various demands.
He began his indefinite hunger strike on November 26 last year to press the Centre to accept the farmers' demands.
During his prolonged fast, his health had "deteriorated" but he continued to resist medical assistance until the government accepted farmers' demands. A team of doctors had also been deployed at the Khanauri site to look after him.
His frail health had earlier drawn the attention of the Supreme Court, which had put the onus on the Punjab government officials and doctors to decide on his hospitalisation.
Even a Supreme Court-appointed high-powered committee, headed by former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Justice Nawab Singh, had met Dallewal at the protest site, urging him to take medical aid.
After the Centre invited the farmer leaders for talks in January, Dallewal started taking medical aid at the Khanauri protest site but did not end his fast.
Dallewal, who is the president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur), hails from Dallewal village in Faridkot. Be it inadequate compensation for the acquisition of farmland, pending payment of farmers or cases of farmers' suicides, Dallewal has been at the forefront of raising these issues.
He had earlier gone on fast in support of farmers' issues in March 2018, January 2019, January 2021, November 2022 and June 2023.
Dallewal's BKU (Ekta Sidhupur) was part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, which led the 2020 farmers' stir against the now-repealed three central farm laws. But it broke away after SKM leader Balbir Singh Rajewal formed the Samyukta Samaj Morcha to fight the 2022 Punjab assembly polls.
Dallewal later formed the SKM (Non-political) by involving like-minded farmer leaders.
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Post poll TN alliances divided in supporting TVK
Chennai (PTI): In a changed political atmosphere in Tamil Nadu with no single political party having a simple majority to form the government post the Assembly election, opinion is divided among the allies led by the Dravidian majors in extending external support to Vijay-led TVK in government formation.
Both the DMK and AIADMK are at unease as the Congress and also a section in the AIADMK express willingness to extend external support to Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagtam in forming the government.
Post poll, the TVK's political prospects appear to impact alliances led by both the Dravidian majors in a different manner, triggering a speculation of a split.
Leema Rose Martin, who won from Lalgudi on an AIADMK ticket, has stated that talks were underway on extending support to the TVK. Her son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna, who won from Villivakkam is TVK's general secretary.
On May 5, former AIADMK minister O S Manian, emerging from his meeting with party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, stated that AIADMK would not support TVK in forming the government.
The AIADMK, which finished third in the elections with 47 seats has cancelled its meeting of MLAs designate on Wednesday amidst a difference in extending external support to the TVK, which won 108 seats, including two seats by its founder Vijay.
As Vijay is gearing up for his swearing-in on May 7, the police have tightened security at his residence here. The party has lodged its MLA-elect at a resort in Mamallapuram and has simultaneously engaged in talks with the Congress and AIADMK, a source said.
The DMK that won 59 seats on its own, has convened a meeting of its newly elected legislators on May 7 evening and the party is likely to elect the youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin, who won from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni as its legislature party leader.
Congress general secretary K C Venugopal admitted that TVK chief Vijay requested the Congress for support to form the government.
"The INC is clear that the mandate in Tamil Nadu is for a secular government, committed to protecting the Constitution in letter and spirit. The INC is determined not to allow the BJP and its proxies to run the government of Tamil Nadu in any manner. Thiru Vijay has also spoken about drawing inspiration from Perunthalaivar Kamaraj," he said.
Accordingly, the Congress leadership has directed the TNCC to take a final decision on Vijay’s request, keeping in view the sentiments of the state as reflected in the electoral verdict, Venugopal said in a statement.
DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai slammed the Congress decision and said the move to ally with TVK, pledging the support of its five MLAs to the party, was tantamount to "backstabbing the DMK and the people of Tamil Nadu."
"They have betrayed the mandate given by the people. Even before the ink on the returning officer’s signature on the victory certificate has dried, they have chosen to go ahead with this alliance," he told PTI.
The most important question was who took this "foolhardy decision, and how is it going to backfire on the Congress?" he asked.
"I don’t think they had any serious deliberation on this. The larger issue is their opposition to the BJP, which is their ideological enemy. We have supported the Congress throughout. It was our leader M K Stalin, who named Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate when the BJP and RSS were criticising him. And now, within a day, they say they are supporting TVK. This is not the mandate of the people of Tamil Nadu,” Saravanan said.
The Congress' exit from its long-standing alliance with the DMK will be a significant moment in the political scenario of the state, commentator and political analyst Sumanth Raman said.
The Congress may be betting on the TVK as a long-term partner option, but that comes with risks, as the TVK is as yet an unknown quantity, he said.
"For the DMK, if the TVK+Congress becomes the choice of the minorities as it well could, it is an existential threat. It was the minority vote that gave the DMK alliance a 12%-15% cushion in the polls. If that goes, their chances of winning drops dramatically," Raman said on 'X.'
The Congress won 5 seats. However, DMK's other allies, the IUML, VCK, CPI and CPI (M) and DMDK have categorically stated that they would not support TVK.
As of now, the TVK requires the support of 11 MLAs to attain a simple majority of 118 to form the government.
The PMK, which won 4 seats and AMMK one - both allies of AIADMK - have not announced their decision yet.
"AIADMK’s real post-result drama may not be outside the party, but inside it. Whispers from the west and north suggest that a Coimbatore hand and a Villupuram voice may soon ask the question everyone is avoiding: Is it time to save the party from the leadership, before the cadre are forced to do it themselves? In politics, coups don’t begin with slogans. They begin with silence, phone calls and “review meetings,” Aspire Swaminathan, who is credited with founding the AIADMK IT wing in 2014, said on 'X.'
He has resigned from the AIADMK in 2021 and now acts an as independent political analyst.
