Farmers conduct Republic Day ‘rehearsal’
Item
Title
Farmers conduct Republic Day ‘rehearsal’
Description
On the other side of Delhi, larger groups gathered at Tikri, Kundli and Dhandsa on the border with Haryana and moved towards each other, completely jamming one side of the three-lane Western Peripheral Expressway for a stretch of several kilometres. “The farmers have come together and taken out this road show for a reason. We want the government to listen to us and accept our demands. This agitation will continue unless the laws are repealed,” said Angrez Singh, a farmer from Punjab’s Firozpur district, travelling on a tractor heading from Kundli towards Tikri. According to organisers, the rally on the 270 km expressway ringing Delhi was echoed by similar tractor marches held in many districts of Punjab, Haryana and U.P., as well as protests in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Bihar. Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh spokesperson Abhimanyu Kohar was on the road from Kundli on Thursday, and will be in the conference room at Vigyan Bhavan for the eighth round of talks with Central Ministers by Friday afternoon. “I hope this government is looking at the determination and sacrifice that the farmers displayed today and every day since the protests started, and I hope that they will now take us seriously. There is serious anger growing among farmers.,” he said. ( With inputs from Ashok Kumar, Anuj Kumar, Shinjini Ghosh and Priscilla Jebaraj )
Publisher
The Hindu
Date
2021-01-08
Coverage
January 08 2021 00:00 IST