Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers on borders: We didn’t start the fire

NEW DELHI: Farmers at Singhu border on Wednesday claimed that taking the tractor rally to Red Fort and unfurling Nishan Sahib on a minaret was never on their agenda. Condemning the act, the unions said they had postponed their February 1 march to Parliament. Security had been tightened at the border and paramilitary forces had been stationed in large numbers in addition to police. The situation at Singhu border was peaceful, but the farmers said they would continue their stir till the agri laws were repealed. Farmer union leaders accused the Centre of “hatching a conspiracy” to malign the movement and suppress their voices. Mehtab Singh, a farmer from Amritsar, said Tuesday’s violence had not killed their spirit. Majinder Singh, a farmer from Jalandhar, said they had more patience than the government and were ready to sit at the borders for months till their demands were met. Bharatiya Kisan Union president Khurmar Singh, who is a member of Samyukta Kisan Morcha, said some miscreants crossed the border for the tractor rally at 8-8.30am without taking others into confidence and police deployed at the borders didn’t stop them. Dr Ashish Mittal, general secretary of All India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha, said, “The entire movement is in our favour, which is why despite instigation and repression by police, genuine farmers didn’t raise their voice. Some youths might have lost their patience as the route was curtailed despite waiting on the borders for months. We will be taking corrective steps to consolidate our movement and will not let it break.” Balvinder Singh, a farmer from Ludhiana, said, “There were a few who had probably made up their mind to ruin the show. Moreover, when the rally started on Tuesday, we were surprised to see that police had barricaded the designated route. While some youths went on another route, on our leaders’ request we went to Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar and took a U-turn from there to return to our protest site.” Satyavan, national president of All India Kishan Khet Mazdoor Sangathan, a resident of Haryana, said the identity of the miscreants was not known immediately and it took time to identify them. Meanwhile, to make travelling easier for people crossing Singhu border, Khalsa Aid Charitable Trust from Fatehgarh has been running a free e-rickshaw service for the past 25 days. Also, to minimise the use of plastic bottles, RO plants were installed recently.

The Times of India

2021-01-28

Delhi