Chandigarh: Hours before the farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal was to start his fast-unto-death protest at the Khanauri border in Punjab’s Sangrur district, the Punjab police allegedly detained him and whisked him to a hospital in Ludhiana.

Dallewal, coordinator of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political), 67, had recently announced that he would embark on the fast-unto-death from Tuesday to press for various the farmers demands including a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.

However, the Punjab police reached the protest site at Khanauri – the Sangrur (Punjab)-Jind (Haryana) border in the wee hours of Tuesday, detained Dallewal and got him admitted to the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), Ludhiana.

Meanwhile, though another senior farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher alleged that the Punjab and Haryana police had detained Dallewal in a joint operation so as to thwart the farmers’ stir, the Punjab police held that they had taken him to DMCH the government was concerned about Dallewal’s health and it was in this wake that his proper medical check was important.

Meanwhile, according to media reports, Dallewal has been on medication even though he has recovered from prostate cancer and that he was also down with pneumonia last month.

ORCHESTRATED BY PUNJAB GOVT: BITTU

Meanwhile, Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu held that the detention of the farmer leader was orchestrated by the chief minister Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and that no central agency was involved in Dallewal’s arrest. Bittu went on to further allege that it is purely the work of the state police aimed at shifting the blame onto central agencies to divert attention from real issue.

FARM STIR

It may be recalled that the leaders of various farm unions had threatened earlier this month that the farmers would resume their ``Delhi Chalo’’ protest-march towards Delhi from December 6 to press the Centre to accept their various demands. Pandher, however, clarified that the farmers would undertake a foot-march in batches and not go on their tractors.

A large number of farmers have been camping at Shambhu and Khanauri borders between Punjab and Haryana since February 13, last, after their ``Delhi Chalo’’ tractor march was stopped by security forces at the said two points – Shambhu and Khanauri borders of the two states.

It may also be recalled that the farm leaders had also held a series of meetings with Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Nityanand Rai and Arjun Munda in Chandigarh in February but these had failed to make a headway.