Over one lakh farmers and farm labourers attended the Mazdoor Kisan Ekta Maha rally at Punjab’s Barnala city to protest the Narendra Modi government’s 2020 farm laws. It was organised by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan)—the largest by far of the many farmers’ unions protesting the laws. The Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union, an organisation representing landless farm labourers was prominent at the rally. Both labourers and farmers came from across the Malwa region—including the districts of Barnala, Sangrur, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Bathinda, Faridkot, Mansa and Ludhiana. The rally was meant to build solidarity between landowning farmers and farm labourers, whose unity, several speakers at the rally said, the government was attempting to break.
In photos: Over a lakh farmers, labourers pledge unity at Mazdoor Kisan Ekta Maha rally at Barnala
Women leading the sloganeering at the Mazdoor Kisan Ekta Maha rally. “This government wants to run the country according to the Manusmriti,” Bindu, the most prominent woman farmers’ leader, said. “They want to keep us women under their feet, but we won’t let them.”
Ramanpreet Kaur, a 23-year-old from Bilaspur, waves the flag of the BKU (EU).
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