Farmers Movement Archive

Agitation continues to gain momentum, as more farmers head towards Delhi

The farmers' protest against the three farm laws continued to gain momentum after it seemed to have derailed following the January 26 violence when some of the protesters stormed the Red Fort and hoisted a religiously significant flag, Nishan Sahib, at the ramparts of the monument in the national capital. Reports said more and more farmers from various states of the country have now come to Delhi's borders to join the movement. By February 2, a record number of people will join the protests at the Delhi borders including Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, claimed various farmer leaders as per a PTI report."People from several areas area are heading towards Delhi borders to join the agitation. Our 'jatha' (group) of at least 700-800 tractors will leave for the Tikri border protest site on Sunday," Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said according to PTI. BKU (Rajewal) leader Balbir Singh Rajewal also said that people are reaching the protest sites in large numbers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. "Possibly by February 2, there will again a record gathering of people at the protest sites," claimed Rajewal while insisting that it would be completely peaceful.Also Read | ‘BJP leaders’: AAP on ‘locals’ who pelted stones on farmers at Singhu borderAs Singhu and Ghazipur borders turned into a fortress amid escalating tension, Rajewal urged people to not get provoked by any misinformation otherwise it would harm the ongoing movement. He appealed to the people joining the agitation at the Delhi border to keep the protest peaceful.Meanwhile, people who were not able to join the agitation in Delhi observed a hunger strike in Punjab, the PTI also reported. Protesting farmers also burnt effigies of Union ministers at 400 places in 14 districts, including Sangrur and Mohali, to mark their disapproval of the farm legislation. To express solidarity with protesting farmers, panchayats of some villages in Bathinda, Ludhiana and Sangrur in Punjab even passed resolutions, asking villagers to send one person from each family to the protest sites, PTI reported citing farmer leaders.Farmers from Punjab and Haryana have been camping at Delhi's borders for more than two months now against the new farm laws. They are demanding a repeal of the laws and a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for the procurement of their crops. Agitating farmers claim that the new laws will weaken the MSP system, despite the Centre seeking to assure them in vain that the MSP system was here to stay and the new laws would only provide more options for farmers to sell their produce.The government has held several rounds of talks with the farmers but so far it failed to bring any resolution to the matter.

Hindustan Times

30-01-2021

India