Farmers Movement Archive

'Country's loss...,' Rahul Gandhi tweets on tractor march violence in Capital

As the farmers' tractor march on the occasion of Republic Day celebrations turned violent at several places, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said violence is no solution — not to any crisis. "Whoever gets hurt, the loss is of the country," the Congress leader tweeted once against urging the Centre to repeal the farm laws the farmers are protesting.Gandhi, who has been supporting the farmers in their demands, slammed the violence that broke out on Tuesday in the Capital without going into which side is responsible for the violence. Whichever side gets hurt — be it farmers or police — the loss of the country, the Congress leader said.Farmers who have been protesting three farm laws since November took out their pre-planned tractor march. But things went out of control and though the march was not supposed to enter the Capital, a section of it reached the Red Fort and put up their flags after crossing ITO.Follow live updates of farmers' tractor marchMeanwhile, both sides reported injuries and the farmers have claimed one death and blamed it on police firing, though a video has apparently shown that the man was crushed under a tractor.The unions of the farmers, which negotiated with the Delhi Police over the route of today's tractor march, did not admit to the ruckus and said the deviation from the route happened because of some confusion.Watch: Farmers clash with cops in Delhi; barricades broken, vehicles vandalisedThe Centre had approached the Supreme Court through Delhi Police against today's tractor rally. The apex court had asked the Delhi Police to take a final call on this. After rounds of consultations, permission for the tractor march was given and a route was also decided. But on Tuesday nothing happened as planned with protesters claiming that they had to break barricades because Delhi Police were not allowing them to enter the Capital and the Police claiming that it had to use force because the protesters turned violent.On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi became the first politician to the violence unfolding at the heart of the Capital. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has not yet commented on what happened in the Capital.

Hindustan Times

26-01-2021

India