Punjab Police have detained 200 farmers in Khanauri and are removing protesters from the Shambhu border.
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00:00But the story that's breaking this evening is coming from Punjab, where the police are
00:04now moving the farmers who've been agitating there for months, forcibly out of the border
00:11area.
00:12The Punjab police have now detained 200 farmers in Ghanori.
00:16Farmers are also being moved out of the Shambhu border.
00:20Sources telling India Today, around 3,000 police personnel are there in the border areas,
00:25and even bulldozers are now being used to remove the temporary structures.
00:29The farmers have been on protest there since February 13, 2024.
00:33So the farmers agitating in Punjab are being removed.
00:38These are farmers who've been protesting their demands, earlier included, of course, the
00:44withdrawal of the farm laws that the Modi government had done.
00:47Now they've raised more questions of the Punjab government itself.
00:52Kamaljeet is joining us.
00:54Our Punjab bureau chief joins me from the border.
00:59Kamaljeet, can you tell us what exactly has sparked off the police's decision to now swoop
01:05down and arrest or detain all the farmers, make them withdraw from the border areas?
01:11Well, in a surprise move, the Punjab government and Punjab police, in a sudden action, have
01:20removed all the farmers from Shambhu border.
01:23That's a big claim really coming in.
01:24In almost a year at that, that's when you see all these shanties have been removed.
01:30These were actually just a town which was created on Shambhu border itself.
01:35These are areas where the farmers had been camping.
01:38And today was specifically a day where the farmers were speaking to the centre as well
01:43as representatives of Punjab government.
01:46And that is when suddenly we saw Punjab police swooping down and obviously coming, not only
01:52detailing top farmer leaders, but also all these farmers.
01:57And remember, at least 250 were present here and we've been told at least 50 of them are
02:03detained.
02:04They were in talks and it was done almost peacefully.
02:06That's what we've been told.
02:08And there has been resistance coming in from a handful of those and they are the ones who
02:12have now been detained.
02:14But clearly this is a big action now really coming in.
02:18Kamaljit, can you explain to our viewers, what exactly have the farm protests been all
02:27about?
02:28Because I want to go back to the early protests that took place in 2020-21.
02:39The protests that took place in 2020-21 were against the farm laws of the Narendra Modi
02:44government.
02:45Now, interestingly, this action which is being taken is being taken by the Aam Aadmi Party
02:50government headed there by Bhagwant Maan.
02:54Can you give us, Kamaljit, what exactly are the farmers protesting about since 2024?
03:01What's the difference between the protests now and when the protests were taking place
03:05when the Narendra Modi government was taking on the farmers at that time?
03:10Okay, we'll try.
03:16We'll try and go back to Kamaljit Sandhu.
03:18Remember, those are the visuals that we are getting at the moment from the border there
03:23in Punjab-Haryana border.
03:25Kamaljit, can you explain to us what exactly have the farmers been protesting about this
03:32time?
03:33Can you very succinctly summarize what is the main demand of the farmers at the moment?
03:43The stalemate is still regarding the minimum support price.
03:46There have been several other demands.
03:48There's also talk about how they wanted other things as well, but clearly, this has not
03:53gone down well because, remember, the feedback the Aam Aadmi Party was getting was that the
03:58commoners were getting disturbed.
04:01It was also financial losses to industrialists who seemed very, very annoyed at not just
04:06the frequent protests, but also the blockage of Shabbu as well as Kanori border.
04:10And remember, even Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Ban, who've been camping together in Punjab
04:14for the past few days, that is what has been told.
04:17Taranjit Sondh, one of the cabinet ministers today, spoke and he said there are extreme
04:21financial losses and we can't bear that.
04:23We are with the farmers, but remember, these are the images which are not going to go down
04:27well because, remember, there is a calculated risk that the Aam Aadmi Party has taken.
04:32They believe that the farmers cannot be made happy.
04:35They also know that Aam Aadmi Party can take that sort of a risk because the farmers' demands
04:41have been exceeding and even their presence, whether it's elections or otherwise, has not
04:48really borne results.
04:49So they feel that if they actually put aside this particular group, they can actually appeal
04:55and appease to the other groups who've actually been antagonised by the farmers.
05:00So that's a big calculated risk taken by Aam Aadmi Party.
05:03We're also coming at a time where Ludhiana West elections are to take place and Ludhiana
05:07is predominantly an industry-based town and that is where all these calculations have
05:13really come in.
05:14But it could turn the big way around for them because, remember, the heat could now turn
05:19out against the Aam Aadmi Party rather than the Saffron Party, which is the BJP.
05:24And remember, this is a big move coming in.
05:26And remember, both Khanobi as well as the Indian-Tamil border, that's where action is
05:31taking place.
05:33I'm going to stop you at the moment.
05:35What you're telling us clearly, this is a political risk being taken by the Aam Aadmi
05:39Party.
05:40They've gone ahead, detained these farmers.
05:42They've been protesting since last year and clearly the Punjab government has been at
05:47its wits' end to try and bring an end to these farmer protests.
05:51But those images will reverberate as, remember, the images did when the farm laws were brought
05:57in by the Modi government.
05:58This time the shoe is on the foot of the Aam Aadmi Party government.