Farmer leaders of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Ekta Sidhupur on Saturday announced that a big gathering would be held at the ongoing morcha in Faridkot on September 9, pressing the state government to implement a One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme for farmers’ loans, return blank cheques taken by the Land Mortgage Bank from farmers and compensate them for belongings allegedly stolen from the Shambhu and Khanauri border protest sites in the presence of the police administration.The announcement was made by Jagjit Singh Dallewal, national convener of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political), and Kaka Singh Kotra, provincial general secretary of BKU Ekta Sidhupur, while speaking to farmers as another jatha of 25 farmers was being sent to court arrest under the jail bharo andolan.The two leaders said meetings were being held across all districts to mobilise large convoys of farmers to converge on Faridkot on September 9. Duties had already been assigned to office-bearers for the purpose, they said.The farmer leaders alleged that the state government, which had earlier arrested and jailed farmers to stop them from reaching the Faridkot dharna, was now trying to avoid making fresh arrests and was allegedly forcing the release of farmers already jailed under the jail bharo stir.They also alleged that the police, acting at the government’s behest, was crushing every voice raised in favour of the people, likening the action to that of German dictator Adolf Hitler’s Nazi forces. They cited the alleged custodial mistreatment of Mohanjit Singh of Shero village in Sangrur district as the latest example.They alleged that Mohanjit Singh was assaulted and his articles of faith were desecrated after he showed a black flag and questioned Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. They named the DSP and SHO concerned, demanding that a case be registered against them and that they be dismissed from service.Farmers accuse Mann of going back on promiseTo buttress their charge that the Chief Minister had gone back on his word, the farmer leaders circulated photographs on social media showing Mann, then a Member of Parliament, sitting on the road with farmers during protest dharnas in the Sangrur area in 2018 and addressing farmer gatherings while a state highway was blocked in support of their demands.The leaders said Mann had, at the time, promised to meet all the farmers’ demands if voted to power, and accused him of reneging on that commitment after becoming Chief Minister.The leaders further claimed that the number of farmers who had courted arrest and been sent to jail under the ongoing Jail Bharo Andolan at Faridkot had crossed 300, with arrests continuing for the sixth consecutive day.