Punjab Farmers Block Congress MP's Car, Ask Him To Join Protest

Ahead of a two-day special assembly session to counter the Union government's farm laws, protests continued in Punjab today with farmers from Sangrur district surrounding a Congress MP and demanding his resignation from the Lok Sabha in solidarity with the protesters.

Faridkot MP and Punjabi singer Mohammad Siddiq's car was passing through a protest site in Sangrur when some farmers started shouting slogans and blocked the vehicle around noon on Sunday.

They gheraoed the MP sitting inside the car and started asking him questions.

The protest was live-streamed on Facebook.

In the video, the parliamentarian is asked by the protesters to resign from Lok Sabha against the farm bills. "Why don't you support us and resign from the Lok Sabha and join our protest? Farmers who have died during the ongoing protest should be given monetary assistance," said one protester.

Mr Siddiq responded: "What happens if I resign? This is what PM Narendra Modi wants that the entire Congress resigns from the parliament."

The MP tried to pacify the agitating farmers and but had to leave the protest site amid sloganeering.

On Friday, another Congress MLA, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, also faced protests by farmers who showed him black flags during a visit to his party worker's house in his own constituency.

After the farmers in Punjab demanded that the state government convene a special assembly session and pass a law to negate the laws, a two-day session has been called from tomorrow.

The opposition parties, including the Congress, have been protesting the three farm sector laws, alleging these are "anti-farmer measures" and will "destroy" the agriculture sector.

The government has, however, asserted the new laws will free farmers from the clutches of middleman and allow them to sell their produce anywhere they want at a remunerative price.

Over the past several days, farmers have been blocking rail tracks, laid siege to toll plazas, fuel pumps, shopping malls and staged sit-ins outside the residences of several BJP leaders in the state.

The farmers have been demanding that the three farm laws passed by parliament recently be repealed. They have expressed apprehension that the new laws will pave a way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporates.