6 days ago
Farmers of 3 states to pay tributes to Satyapal Malik on August 18
Farmers of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh will pay tributes to former governor and union minister Satyapal Malik, who died last week, at a ceremony in Yamunanagar on August 18. Former governor and union minister Satyapal Malik (File)
Malik, a former three-time MP, breathed his last at the age of 79 on August 5 at a Delhi hospital.
The Yamunanagar ceremony will be organised by the local unit of Bharatiya Kisan Union's Charuni faction.
The activists of the group met at Jagadhri grain market on Tuesday under the chairmanship of district general secretary Gurveer Singh, to discuss the plan and announced the date for the ceremony.
Unit's district president Sanju Gudiana said that duties were assigned to various members for the programme, where farmers from Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh will arrive in large numbers.
'Our president Gurnam Singh Charuni and other senior leaders will also pay tributes to Malik. We will also invite the family members of Malik,' he said.
Sanju further said that there is a lot of anger among the peasantry as well as people of the state as Malik was not accorded state honours during his cremation.
'He was no ordinary person. Malik sahab has been the governor of five states and a minister in the union government, a former MP, a former MLA. We all know he was given the punishment for speaking in favor of the farmers, while in power and also speaking against the government on the terrorist attack in Pulwama. Government may tend to ignore this, but the farmers will pay him the respect he deserves, even after his death,' the farmer leader said.
Born in Baghpat in a Jat family, Malik supported the 2020-21 farmers' movement against the now scrapped three agricultural laws, while being the governor of Meghalaya.
In March 2021, Malik extended his support to the farmers' agitation at the Delhi borders and also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah to not offend the protesters.
Later, he also openly supported the women wrestlers' agitation against sexual harassment at the national capital.
SKM's 'Corporate Bharat Chhodo' protest today
On the nationwide call of the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), members of the BKU's Tikait faction will take out a tractor march at district and block levels across the state on Wednesday launching the 'Corporate Bharat Chhodo' campaign.
Faction's state president Rattan Mann said that carrying Tiranga atop the tractors, the farmers' protest would be similar to the Quit India Movement.
Mann said that the farmers will stage a protest to press for their key demands including a law guaranteeing MSP, farm loan waiver, a halt to the installation of smart meters on domestic power supply, and others.
In Karnal, Mann will lead the protest rally from Jat Dharamshala to the DC office at Sector 12.
