Farmers Movement Archive

Farmer leader Tikait’s emotional appeal leads to fresh mobilisation in Haryana

In a quick turnaround of events, farmers’ mobilisation in Haryana seemed to be heading towards reinvigoration on Friday as the ripples of protesting farmer leader Rakesh Tikait’s emotional outburst continued to be felt across the state. Amid reports of the protests petering out at various places, following incidents of violence in Delhi on Republic Day, Tikait’s emotional speech gave a fresh impetus to the ongoing agitation, especially among the Jat farmers of the state, said protesters. Farmers from the Jat community seemed to be throwing their weight behind Tikait after his breakdown in front of television cameras, where he lashed out at the ruling party and appealed to farmers to not give up. Mintu Ram, a farmer from Bhiwani in Haryana, who recently returned from the protest site at Shahjahanpur after nearly a month, said that fresh mobilisation was taking place in villages in Haryana in support of the ongoing agitation. “We returned from Shahjahanpur ahead of Republic Day. Since then, a lot has happened. There was uncertainty over the last two days but the developments at Ghazipur have changed the sentiments,” said Ram. He said that panchayats and gatherings were taking place in various villages to mobilise people in favour of renewing the agitation. “In nearly 15 villages in my neighbourhood, tractors are going around making announcements, asking people to join forces at protest sites.” He said that the movement was gaining strength since people realised that attempts were being made to crush the agitation and the safety of farmers was under threat. “People from different villages are coming out in large numbers and proceeding towards Ghazipur and other protest sites. I will also return to the Shahjahanpur border. Many people from my village will be heading out to join protests by tomorrow (Saturday),” said Ram. Prempal Singh, a farmer from Daultabad, said that while it temporarily seemed that the movement had suffered a setback after what transpired on Republic Day, the tide was once again turning in favour of farmers. “The farmers from Haryana were not involved in the ruckus that happened on Republic Day. It was a conspiracy by mischievous people who wanted to divide the movement. When Tikait refused to surrender, people realised that they had no reason to fear. They can see that attempts are being made to discredit the protests and are mobilising in support,” said Singh. Deepak Sehrawat, a resident of Dhankot village, said that while people from the Jat community were in support of the farmers’ agitation, the support had increased since Thursday night. “Various WhatsApp groups are buzzing with updates pertaining to the farmers’ agitation and particularly what transpired at Ghazipur. Jats, especially, are more vocal about their support and will mobilise after Tikait’s appeal,” said Sehrawat. He said that the events that unfolded at Ghazipur had given momentum to the protests. Protestors who were earlier camping at various sites said that they were unsure about the protests following the violence that erupted on Republic Day but were motivated by Tikait’s speech. His tears became a spark for the revival of the protests, they said.Satnarayan Nehra, the president of Nehra Khap of Haryana, said that farmers of his Khap had vacated the sites on the Delhi-Jaipur highway at Sangwari Chowk in Rewari and Masani village near Dharuhera on Thursday morning and had returned to their base camp at Shahjahanpur. “Later we went to our respective villages after calling off the protest but we received calls from BKU leaders requesting for our support and asked us to hold panchayat in this regard in our villages on Friday and to motivate villagers to join the protest again,” he said. There are 50 villages in Rewari belt dominated by Jats who have decided to support Tikait and to scale up the protests at all possible sites. Ramkishan Mahlawat, general secretary of Bhartiya Kisan Union, Bawal, said that more than 500 villagers from Bawal had joined the protest on Friday evening at Shahjahanpur and more than 500 others — who had gone to Jind in Haryana, where villagers had blocked the Jind-Chandigarh route near Khandela village — were also returning to the base camp. “Our aim is to increase the strength at the Haryana–Rajasthan border and to block the National Highway-48 to create pressure on the government as they are trying to vacate the sites with the help of villagers. However, we will not move an inch from here now,” he said. More than 50 protestors will head towards Rajghat, where they will sit on hunger strike for a day. They have written to Delhi police commissioner seeking permission but haven’t received any reply. Kisan Mahapanchayat leader Rampal Jat, who had announced on Thursday that his organisation would vacate the Shahjahanpur protest site in wake of the Republic Day violence, returned to the site a day after. Jat, along with other prominent leaders of the area, reached Bawal on Friday evening and had decided to support Tikait at Ghazipur on Saturday. “We will follow instructions passed by BKU leader and will guide our farmers accordingly,” he said. Meanwhile, the Rewari Police said that it had increased the police deployment at the Rajasthan-Haryana border again including eight companies of paramilitary forces. Rajesh Kumar, deputy superintendent of Bawal, said, “We had reduced deployment of forces on Thursday but with the return of farmers on the site, we have again deployed teams all day and night. Villagers from Rajasthan have already joined the protest site on Friday.” He added that farmers from different districts of Haryana were also joining in.

Hindustan Times

30-01-2021

Gurugram