Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday warned the Centre against messing with the livelihood of the people, speaking at a protest he led in Delhi against the farm laws forced through Parliament by the Narendra Modi government.

Arguing that Punjab neither wanted a confrontation nor intended to disturb peace in the country, Amarinder said: “Punjab has made huge sacrifices for the nation. Soldiers from Punjab protect India’s borders. We work to preserve the peace of the country. But when you mess with people’s religion and livelihood, people get angry. They have no option but to fight for their survival.”

Although the chief minister wanted to hold a symbolic protest at Raj Ghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s resting place in Delhi, permission was denied as prohibitory orders under CrPC Section 144 are in force.

Amarinder paid tribute to Gandhi at Raj Ghat and then sat on a dharna at Jantar Mantar along with a few hundred Congress MPs and MLAs and party leaders for four hours.

The chief minister said: “It is not only for the farm bills that the Punjab Assembly has passed that I wanted to meet the President of India. It is my duty to convey to the President (concerns) about national security and food security in Punjab. All our power plants had to be shut today for want of coal. I had told railway minister Piyush Goyal to start goods trains as tracks have been cleared. I had even promised security for the trains. But they haven’t done it so far.”

Punjab farmers have been protesting ever since the farm laws were brought and had blocked train tracks for weeks. Although the rail blockade was lifted after the state Assembly passed farm bills to negate the laws brought by the Centre, the railways are not running goods trains to the state, stifling essential supplies.

“Supplies have to reach soldiers on the border and the high reaches before winter. We had a bumper crop but the godowns are full. Old stocks will have to be cleared. We don’t have bags. If rains come, the procured grains will go waste. There are no fertilisers for wheat and potato. Punjab has suffered a lot. Pakistan is trying to foment trouble,” Amarinder said.

The chief minister has failed to secure an appointment with President Ram Nath Kovind despite three requests to apprise him of the situation.

The chief minister said: “We want the Centre to look at us. There is an established and successful system in Punjab; why break it? Ours is not a political battle. It is a fight for the survival of small farmers.”

Although Amarinder was restrained and made conciliatory gestures, other leaders freely expressed their anguish, publicly vowing to continue the fight till the Centre withdrew the “black laws”.

Senior leader Navjot Singh Sidhu said: “Policy has been made to help only two capitalists — Adani and Ambani. The central government wants to give the remote control of agriculture to them. But we won’t allow such monopolies to be created by snatching the rights of the farmers. We won’t allow Adani and Ambani to step into Punjab.”

The Punjab government on Wednesday tried to persuade the farmers not to intensify their agitation but the unions refused to listen, reiterating their plan for a nationwide “chakka jam” on Thursday. The 30 farmers’ unions in Punjab have received support from 200 other unions from across the country. They are to block national highways across India from noon to 4pm.