Sidhu hoists black flag to support protesting farmers

Chandigarh, May 25 (IANS) Joining the farmers to raise black flags to lodge protest against the three controversial farm laws enacted by the Central government, Punjab Congress legislator Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday hoisted the black flag at his ancestral residence in Patiala town.

Appealing to every Punjabi to support the farmers, Sidhu, accompanied by his wife Navjot Kaur, in a video posted on his Twitter handle, said: "From the past three decades, Indian farmers are worried due to rising debts and dropping income.

"Farmers have been lied to, and now these new black laws have proved to be the last nail in the coffin.

"I protest against these laws, and stand in solidarity with my father and brothers."

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of over 40 farmer unions, has announced it will observe May 26 as 'black day' to mark six months of their protest at Delhi's borders against the farm laws.

Farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal has appealed to people to raise black flags at their houses, vehicles and shops on May 26 to lodge the protest.

Sidhu's protest is contrary to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's stand who has urged the state's prominent farm union the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) not to go ahead with their proposed sit-in protest, which could turn into a "super-spreader of the contagion" amidst the pandemic.

He said his government was the first to pass amendment laws in the state Assembly to negate the farm laws.