Bhopal/Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The Bharat Bandh call given by some farmer unions against the Centre's new farm laws had no major impact in Madhya Pradesh on Monday as day-to-day and commercial activities went on as usual.
Eyewitnesses said road traffic was normal in the state capital Bhopal and commercial hub Indore.
However, talking to PTI, Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh national president Shivkumar Kakkaji claimed, "The bandh called by farmers against the three laws and for demanding guaranteed MSP for crops has been successful." He further claimed that the outfit had given relaxation from the shutdown to Bhopal as most of its residents are (private and government sector) employees and not farmers, but the protest was successful in the farming community-dominated small towns of Nimar region, Shahdol, Umaria, Raisen and Silwani.
Kakkaji said he was sitting in the "control room" in Bhopal and was getting reports that the shutdown call was "successful", and added that no untoward incident was reported from anywhere.
Peaceful protests were also seen in districts like Vidisha and Satna.
The Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh's Indore unit president Rajkumar Patidar said they had planned to stage protests at the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) campuses and other places, but the district administration did not give them permission for it.
The RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) did not support the bandh.
Its Indore-Ujjain unit president Kamal Singh Aanjna said," We want the issues related to farmers to be resolved through discussions with the government in a peaceful manner." To mark one year since the laws were passed, farmer organisations called a Bharat Bandh on Monday from 6 am to 4 pm.
The three laws -- The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020 -- were passed by Parliament in September last year.
The government has projected them as major reforms, but the unions allege that the laws will leave the farmers at the mercy of big corporates.
Farmers have been protesting against the three laws on Delhi's borders since November last year.
