Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday urged farmers unions to stop holding frequent protests against the state government, saying that he was the “mittar keeda” of farmers (farmer-friendly insect), and they should seek a meeting with him before launching agitations.
This won’t result in any output in your favour,” he said. “Some farmer union leaders must also be sitting here. Please refrain from holding protests so often. At the end of every protest, you demand a meeting with me. But first you sit on a dharna and then ask for a meeting. So why not ask for a meeting first? I am always there to meet you. “I am your mittar keeda, but instead you keep spraying insecticides on me. You keep burning my effigies. You should be friends with your mittar keeda. But you are killing both friendly and enemy insects with the same spray.
Addressing farmers during the inauguration of the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Kisan Mela, Mann said he was not in favour of lodging FIRs against farmers for stubble burning. I am always there to stand for justified demands of farmers,” Mann said. Taking the analogy further, he told farmers that they were treating him like an insect they wanted to eliminate with pesticides. Even science says farmers should not kill insects that are beneficial for their fields.
The two-day Kisan Mela, one of the region’s largest gatherings of farmers, is organised twice a year on the PAU campus in March and September. “I am your advocate in Delhi. I know what it means to get water in turns. I know your pains.
With Punjab scheduled to go to the polls in early 2027, Friday’s address was Mann’s last at the farmers’ fair before the end of the AAP government’s current tenure. Because i have been a farmer, I am one of you, that’s. I am the one who always fights with Delhi to get cash credit limit (CCL) in time so that our farmers get instant cash payments during procurement,” he said. Mann also referred to a Centre report, claiming that groundwater levels had risen in some parts of Punjab because, according to him, the state government understood the importance of conserving water.
At the same time, the CM said the Punjab government had no intention of registering FIRs against farmers for stubble burning during the coming paddy season.
