Odisha Bandh On January 28: Congress Backs Farmers’ Stir, BJP Brands It ‘Manufactured Protest’
The farmers’ outfit said the shutdown aims to draw attention to mounting distress among cultivators and the wider public, blaming administrative lapses and rising costs for worsening rural hardships.
Bhubaneswar: The Navnirman Krushak Sangathan (NNKS) has called for an eight-hour Odisha bandh on Wednesday, January 28, from 6 am to 2 pm, to protest alleged irregularities in paddy procurement, steep penalties imposed under the Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUCC) regime, and what it termed arbitrary power tariff-related actions by Tata Power.
The farmers’ outfit said the shutdown aims to draw attention to mounting distress among cultivators and the wider public, blaming administrative lapses and rising costs for worsening rural hardships. Normal life is expected to be disrupted in several parts of the state during the bandh.
“We will observe an Odisha bandh on January 28 from 6 am to 2 pm to protest irregularities in mandis, the PUCC system, and the installation of smart meters by Tata Power. Farmers were allegedly assaulted during a protest even in the presence of the Deputy Chief Minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo,” said Akshay Kumar, national coordinator of the Navnirman Krushak Sangathan. He added that emergency services would remain unaffected.
The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) has extended its support to the bandh. OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das said district Congress units across the state have been directed to back the shutdown and participate in the agitation in a peaceful manner.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, mounted a sharp counterattack, dismissing the bandh as a “fake farmers’ movement.” BJP spokesperson Manoj Mahapatra alleged that the Navnirman Krushak Sangathan lacks grassroots support and accused the Congress of using the farmers’ body as a proxy to mobilise public protests.
Mahapatra further claimed that leaders of the organisation have little understanding of agriculture, alleging they “cannot even distinguish between paddy and husk.” He said farmers had been demoralised during the previous Biju Janata Dal (BJD) regime, while middlemen and brokers thrived.
Asserting that farmers are now being encouraged under the Mohan Majhi-led BJP government, Mahapatra said the bandh call would have minimal impact across the state.