Farmers Movement Archive

Farm leaders tell protesters to ensure peace during Feb 6 ‘chakka jam’

Farmers leaders on Tuesday appealed to the protesters to maintain peace during the Feburary 6 nationwide ‘chakka jam’ announced on Monday against the three farm laws. This comes a week after violence during the tractor parade by farmers on Republic Day.Protesters and security volunteers have also been asked to keep a “tight vigil” to ensure that anti-social elements do not become part of the agitation on February 6 and “disrupt” the movement.Karan Singh Brar, a farmer leader and a member of Samyukt Kisan Morcha, said, “We will have to successfully execute the call of ‘chakka jam’ on February 6 between 12-3 pm and it will only be successful if we do it peacefully. We will have to ensure that emergency vehicles such as ambulance or fire tenders should be given way during the agitation and that there is no non-violence,” he said at Tikri border.Also read: Rakesh Tikait coins new slogan at Ghazipur protest siteAnother farm leader, Chaudhary Rajveer Singh said, “To execute our chakka jam peacefully, we also need to be vigilant and keep an eye out for anti-social elements who may try to infiltrate and try to defame farmers. The government may resort to these tactics, but we will have to be extra cautious.”Following the Republic Day violence, farmer leaders have maintained that the incident was a government conspiracy. Police have blamed farmer leaders for betraying their trust by letting protesters indulge in violence and drive on routes other than the ones approved by the police.Meanwhile, Delhi Police continued to bolster its security arrangements at the agitation spot across the three borders. While police installed at least three more layers of obstructions beyond the iron spikes at Tikri on Tuesday, fresh trenches were dug up at Ghazipur, and another layer of concrete barricade was installed a few metres away from the main stage at Singhu border. The police have made these arrangements to discourage any movement of agitating farmers towards the capital.At Singhu, the barricades were installed after a mob, claiming to be locals, entered the protest site last week leading to clash with farmers in which 15 farmers and 6 police personnel were injured. On Monday, the government had poured concrete mixture between two barricades and fixed iron rods on the road. On Tuesday, another layer of barricades were installed at the spot and no one except police personnel were allowed at that point. Security volunteers at the spot had also tied ropes on the concrete barricades disallowing protesters to come near it.Gurpreet Singh, 28, a security volunteer and a farmer from Moga district, said, “Yesterday, too many people had crowded here when police officials were supervising pouring of cement mixture between concrete barricades. If anyone managed to infiltrate that group and cause any problems, our movement would get defamed. So, we decided to guard the area and ensure no one reaches close to police barricades.”However, despite restrictions, farmers from Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh were joining the protests in large numbers. At Singhu, where crowd had thinned after January 26, more farmers had arrived at the protest site in the past couple of days adding to the movement.Pritam Singh, 62, a farmer from Devinagar village of Patiala district in Punjab, said, “Around 2,500 people from our village have been coming per day since last week. While some stay back for a week or two, others return in a couple of days once more people come. Though the Republic Day incident had left us worried, we now understand that it was a ploy to scare the farmers and weaken the movement. The government’s decision to repeal laws and suspend internet just shows that.”Hundreds of farmers from Haryana were also travelling from Sonipat and other districts to join the movement albeit for a day. Rajesh Malik, 47, a farmer from Bhainswal Kalan village in Sonipat district of Haryana, who has been camped at Singhu border, said, “Our women want to join the movement in large numbers, so they come every day in different batches. They leave the next day only once another batch arrives. We want to let the government know that protesters are not leaving the agitation.”

Hindustan Times

03-02-2021

India