Farmers Movement Archive

Signs in build-up; leaders say rally was ‘infiltrated’

GHAZIABAD: Farmer leaders blamed the Republic Day violence in Delhi on “mischievous elements” that had “infiltrated” their scheduled tractor parade as well as Delhi Police for setting up barricades on the designated routes that they were supposed to take. But signs of restlessness among those protesting at UP Gate had been visible for days. When talks were on to fix a route for the tractor parade, a farmer came to UP Gate with five modified tractors that had barricade-busting bumpers fixed to them. Monu Pawar, son of Galtan Singh who died at UP Gate on January 1, had said he would use the tractors on January 26 “if we are not allowed to go to Delhi”. Narendra Singh, a farmer from Pilibhit, had brought about a dozen double front-wheel tractors. “These tractors provide us with enough power to smash anything that comes in the way,” Singh had told this paper three days ago. The day before the tractor parade began, farmers at the protest site were vocal about their “rejection” of the route agreed to by farmer leaders and Delhi Police, though Rakesh Tikait, the Bharatiya Kisan Union leading the UP Gate protests, had maintained farmers would stick to the route that was decided. On Tuesday evening, asked how the parade went off track, Tikait said, “We had started off peacefully from UP Gate and were proceeding as per plan. But at the point where were supposed to take a turn towards Anand Vihar (on the designated route), Delhi Police had set up barricades, which created confusion, leading to farmers going towards Akshardham. By the time we sorted this out and proceeded along the designated route, more than 150 tractors had already taken off towards Delhi.” Asked what this meant for the protests, which had been continuing peacefully so far, the BKU leader said, “We will go on with the protest. There is no question of backing off.” Jagtar Singh Bajwa, member of the UP Gate farmers’ committee who had on Monday night told this correspondent that farmers would take their rally through Akshardham, said on Tuesday “mischievous elements” were responsible for the rally going astray. “It has come to our notice that so-called farmers who had participated in the rally created confusion and sped towards Delhi, even though we stood on the pre-decided route. We are gathering more inputs,” said Bajwa. Rashtriya Kisan Majdoor Sangathan’s leader VM Singh, who is also stationed at UP Gate but hasn’t seen eye to eye with the BKU on several issues, said, “It was Rakesh Tikait and BKU and other farm unions who have been holding talks with the government. Now that the tractor rally has gone awry, it is Tikait and the others who should take the blame for whatever happened, including the death of a young farmer,” Singh said.

The Times of India

2021-01-27

Noida