'Genuine leader without a political agenda', SC lauds after Dallewal breaks fast

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said septuagenarian Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who ended his indefinite hunger strike in support of farmers' several demands after about four months, was a "genuine leader without a political agenda". A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh was informed by Punjab advocate general (AG) Gurminder Singh that protesting farmers at Khanauri and Shambhu borders were dispersed and all blocked roads and highways cleared. The top court lauded Dallewal, calling him a genuine farmer leader who had raised real issues of the farming community without any political agenda. "We know some people did not want settlement of grievances of farmers. We are not sitting in an ivory tower. We know everything," the court said. The bench asked Punjab and Haryana government to file a status report on the prevailing situation on the ground. Singh, on the other hand, said even Haryana had cleared all the barricades on highways enabling smooth flow of traffic. "It was the daily pain suffered by the commuters which was in our mind," he said.

The AG added lakhs of people would now reap the benefits after the highways were cleared as they had to detour earlier. Saying people should not suffer due to protests on roads, the court illustrated Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh had freely-moving traffic. In September, 2024, the top court formed a high-powered committee with the aim to amicably resolve the grievances of protesting farmers. The bench asked the committee headed by a former high court judge to look into the grievances of farmers, and file its next supplementary status report. It also dropped the contempt proceedings initiated against the Punjab chief secretary and director general of police for not complying with the top court’s order on providing medical aid to Dallewal. In a related development, farmer leaders Sarwan Singh Pandher, Abhimanyu Kohar and Kaka Singh Kotra, detained in a recent police crackdown following a meeting with a central delegation, were released on Friday. Kisan Mazdoor Morcha leader Pandher was released from Muktsar Jail whereas Kohar, Kotra and other farmer leaders were released from Patiala Central Jail. In a police crackdown on March 19, several farmer leaders were detained on their return from a meeting with a central delegation led by Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Chandigarh. The meeting was held to discuss the farmers' demands, especially the MSP legal guarantee.

As the departing farmers entered Mohali after the meeting, they were met with heavy barricading and some of them were detained. The police evicted protesting farmers and dismantled their temporary structures from the Shambhu and Khanauri border points and vehicular traffic was resumed on the Shambhu-Ambala and Sangrur-Jind highways after that. The protesting farmers in Punjab slammed the ruling AAP government for detaining their leaders and removing protesters from the border points, where they had been camping since February 13 last year after their march to Delhi was thwarted by the security personnel. Farmer leaders claimed Dallewal was also detained on March 19 but the Punjab government said he was admitted to a Patiala hospital on his own terms. Dallewal is a senior leader of the joint forum of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha and had been on an indefinite fast at the Khanauri border point between Punjab and Haryana since November 26, last year to press the Centre to accept the demands. He had previously refused medical aid offered by the state government following which his condition deteriorated. On December 20, the apex court put the onus on Punjab government officials and doctors to decide on his hospitalisation. The committee in its initial report flagged various reasons for agrarian distress and listed reasons including stagnant yield, rising costs, debts and inadequate marketing system. Aside from Justice (retd) Nawab Singh, the committee comprises retired IPS officer B S Sandhu, agriculture expert Devinder Sharma, professor Ranjit Singh Ghuman and Dr Sukhpal Singh, agricultural economist from the Punjab Agricultural University. Farmers, under the banners of SKM and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, have camped at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 last year, after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.