Punjab Government Forcibly Evicts Farmers after Year-Long Protest
AAP Government Detains Hundreds of Farmers
March 21, 2025
Photo by Randeep Maddoke (December 2020), via Wikimedia Commons
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab on March 19 forcibly removed farmers who had been demonstrating at the Shambhu border between Haryana and Punjab for more than a year, detained farmer leaders, and cleared the temporary shelters and trolleys that had housed farmers. On March 20, several demonstrations to condemn the government’s move, described as backstabbing, were held, leading to more detentions and arrests.
Various farmer leaders, including Jagjit Singh Dallewal—who had been on an indefinite fast—and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha leader Sarvan Singh Pandher, were detained, The Tribune reported. Rakesh Tikait, the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), voiced strong objections to these arrests and criticised the Punjab government.
Haryana’s security personnel have bulldozed barricades, erected to block farmers from travelling towards Delhi.
The All India Kisan Sabha and the Bharatiya Kisan Union carried out a protest march to Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini’s residence in Karnal, focusing on their urgent agricultural demands such as better crop prices and solutions to the escalating cost of farming essentials.
Authorities in Punjab reportedly used JCB machines to clear the temporary shelters and trolleys that had housed farmers, in an effort to reopen the route for traffic.
Talks between farmer representatives and a central delegation took place on March 19, with Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan scheduling the next meeting for 4 May.
Leaders from other political parties voiced strong objections to the eviction.
Congress leader Supriya Shrinate expressed her anger against Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, saying that people in the state would not forget what she called “backstabbing,” as reported by The Hindu. She referred to the earlier stance of the AAP Delhi government on farm laws, calling it puzzling that a party that portrays itself as born out of a movement would act against the farmers’ cause.
There was also a crackdown at the Khanauri border, and many farmer leaders were placed under house arrest. Some leaders called for a “chakka jaam” in Punjab, urging local supporters to block roads. Activists of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee staged protests near district administration offices, demanding the release of detained leaders, only to be taken into custody themselves.
In Faridkot, over 200 farmers were detained to prevent them from halting traffic on National Highway-15. The farmers were reportedly transported to undisclosed locations in buses.
Congress party MPs from Punjab staged a protest in the Parliament complex against the police crackdown, even as farmer leaders questioned what they saw as a coordinated effort by the Punjab government to suppress ongoing protests and hinder discussions scheduled for the coming weeks.
Bajrang Punia, an Indian Olympic medallist in wrestling and the Working President of Kisan Congress, sharply criticised the government following the arrest of several farmers during the protest at Punjab’s Shambhu Border. “The government was just pretending to talk to farmers. Arresting them after discussions shows they are not serious about solving the farmers’ problems. This is a betrayal,” ANI quoted Punia as saying.
Farmers have been demanding a legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their crops, debt relief and pensions for agricultural workers, and the withdrawal of police cases lodged against demonstrators and justice for those killed in a 2021 vehicular incident in Lakhimpur Kheri. They also seek reinstatement of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act and compensation for families who lost loved ones during the 2020–21 protests.
