Kisan Mahapanchayat: Farmers not to support or oppose any party in polls

'In order to prevent farmers from gathering, cement barriers were put up at many places. Gurudwara managers were even told not to cook food for them,' Dallewala alleged

In the Kisan Mahapanchayat held at Uchana in Haryana's Jind district on Sunday, it was decided not to support or oppose any party in the elections, a farmer leader said.

A large number of farmers from Haryana, Punjab and other states attended the Mahapanchayat held under the aegis of the Bharatiya Kisan Naujawan Union. Farmer leaders like Jagjit Singh Dallewal, Shravan Singh Pandher, and Abhimanyu Kohad participated in it.

Providing information about the decision taken in the Mahapanchayat, Dallewal said, We (farmers movement) have nothing to do with the elections. Our aim is to strengthen the movement. We will neither help anyone nor oppose anyone in the elections. To strengthen our movement, we will make people aware of the failures of the government and the decisions taken against the farmers.'

He said, 'The next Mahapanchayat will be held on September 22 in Pipli, Kurukshetra. The demands for which we are protesting are not only of Punjab, Haryana, but of the farmers of the whole country. Mahapanchayats are being held in every corner of the country to connect the whole country with this movement.'

Dallewal said the way farmers were stopped by the government from coming to the Kisan Mahapanchayat is 'very shameful, condemnable.' '

'In order to prevent farmers from gathering, cement barriers were put up at many places. Gurudwara managers were even told not to cook food for them,' he alleged.

Farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohad said, "We do not appeal to vote for any political party, but we will definitely say that when you go to vote, remember the atrocities that have been committed against farmers and labourers in the last ten years.