Latest flashpoint poses fresh challenge for AAP govt

The Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government's tough stance against Samyukta Kisan Morcha's March 5 'pucca morcha' (indefinite sit-in) at the state capital has become a latest flashpoint between the two sides and poses a fresh challenge for the state government to deal with the intensified farmer protests.

- Gurpreet Singh Nibber

CHANDIGARH:

The SKM, a conglomerate of over 30 farm unions, is on collision course with the Mann government as it has been feeling 'left out' lately, especially after the SKM (Non-Political), headed by BKU (Sidhupur) chief Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Kisan Mazdoor Sangarh Committee president Sarwan Singh Pandher, hogging all the limelight. The Centre is engaged in talks with Dallewal and Pandher factions that has been spearheading protests at Shambu and Khanouri since February 2024.

"It's a game of one-upmanship going on. As the next round of talks is scheduled for March 19, SKM leaders, who could not forge unity with the non-political unions, are looking to stay in the limelight by putting forward their state-specific demands," says Jagrup Singh Sekhon, former head of the police science department Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. "There are more than 100 farm bodies who are fighting against the government and each other in groups, assuming themselves to be above law but actually they are perceived as outlaws," he said.

"People in general have stopped liking the system of agitations as they are feeling hassled," added Sekhon.