A day after Income Tax (IT) officials conducted searches and served notices to 14 top commission agents in Punjab, the Federation of Arhtiya Associations of Punjab on Sunday announced the closure of all Mandis in the state from 22 to 25 December as a mark of protest against the IT action, the Quint reported.
The federation’s president, Vijay Kalra, alleged that action by the IT department was a “pressure tactic” as they have been supporting the protesting farmers who have been demanding a roll back of the three Agricultural bills passed by the BJP-Led Government.
earlier, Income tax officials raided the premises of several arhtiyas, including Kalra, on Friday and Saturday. The Income Tax has sent notices to about 16 agents.
The Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal had also slammed the action by I-T department who took to his twitter and said: “It is completely wrong to harass traders like this. All this is being done to weaken the farmers’ movement. Today the whole country stands with the farmers, how many will the Center raid?” Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.
Meanwhile, the farmers who have been protesting at the Singhu border from past 26 days slammed the Centre’s move and said that they would escalate their protest from Monday with a 24-hour hunger strike.
On Sunday, 20 December, the farmer’s unions during a joint press conference at the Singhu border said: “On 27 December, PM Modi will speak in ‘Mann ki Baat’ but we want to appeal to all of you to bang utensils till the time the PM is speaking.”