Farmers Movement Archive

After stand-off & clash in Moradabad, a group of UP farmers reach Delhi border

PILIBHIT: A group of over 200 farmers from Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur and Lakhimpur Kheri districts of Uttar Pradesh, carrying food and other essential supplies for protesters, arrived at Delhi border on Wednesday morning, over 44 hours after they had set off on the journey braving cold weather in open tractors, police scrutiny at over 12 check posts and a stand-off which sparked a minor clash in Moradabad. The farmers were last detained on Moradabad outskirts near Munda Pandey area, where a heavy police force equipped with water cannons blocked their way leading to a traffic jam on NH-24. Police said that Moradabad SSP was injured in the skirmish which followed, but the farmers said it were policemen who “behaved like rioters”. They claimed that policemen used force on them to deter them from moving ahead. Head of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, also reached the spot on Tuesday and said the role of local police reminded him of “British Raj”. Sirsa, who oversaw the remaining journey of the farmers from Moradabad to Ghazipur border, said it was a victory over “suppression”. Kuldeep Singh from Andbojhi village and Preet Pal Singh from Gadvakhera village of Pilibhit, who were the part of the journey, told TOI that they were also stopped in Amroha, and then at Dasna area of Ghaziabad. “But we managed to reach Ghaziabad border on Wednesday morning,” Singh said. With over 100 women and children, the group, which had assembled outside Kajri Gurdwara on Monday morning, started its journey for the UP-Delhi border along with 22 tractor-trolleys full of grain, pulses, wheat flour, rice, quilts and blankets, was first stopped by police on Pilibhit-Basti NH-730 near Bhopatpur village on Monday. But, after a brief stand-off, they crossed the border of Pilibhit district and continued their journey. They were again stopped on Moradabad outskirts where the alleged clash took place. The farmers completed the 300-km journey on tractors and crossed at least at 12 check posts in six districts. Meanwhile, the president of UP-Uttarakhand Sikh Sangathan, Jasveer Singh Virk, has given a call to Sikh farmers to reach the Ghazipur border in huge numbers on December 25. “The Centre is conspiring to assemble the fake farmers and hired people to impress upon the countrymen that millions of farmers have given support to the three farm laws. We have to expose this conspiracy," Virk said.

The Times of India

2020-12-24

Bareilly