Farmers Movement Archive

'Chakka jaam' not to be held in Delhi, confirms Rakesh Tikait

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said on Thursday that there will be a three-hour-long 'chakka jaam' on February 6 everywhere outside the national capital. He said that the people who will be stuck in it would be provided food and water and will know what the government was doing to the farmers."There'll be a three-hour-long 'chakka jaam' on February 6. It won't take place in Delhi but everywhere outside Delhi. The people that will be stuck in it will be given food and water. We will tell them what is the Govt doing with us," Tikait said as quoted by news agency ANI.Farmers' unions have called the 'chakka jaam' as a protest against the government's decision to shut down internet services at protest sites, the police barricading and the Centre's three farm laws that the protestors want repealed.The RSS-affiliated farmers' body, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), said that they would not support the 'chakka jaam', citing that the protests had become political propaganda."Now, the protest at all the borders of Delhi is very much political and it is clearly visible that this has become political propaganda," BKS General Seceratery Badri Narayan Choudhary said as per ANI.Choudhary also noted the international support the protests had garnered and called it 'propaganda against India'.The farmers' protests had recently been shot into the global eye after pop icon Rihanna tweeted about it. The story was then shared by several eminent personalities like climate activist Greta Thunberg.Thousands of farmers have been protesting against the Centre's contentious farm laws for several weeks around the national capital. They had organised a tractor rally on Republic Day that ended in violence, after which the government cut the internet and the Delhi police set up barricades at the protest sites.Several rounds of talks between the Centre and the farmers have ended unsuccessfully with the farmers demanding a complete rollback of the three laws and the Centre refusing to do so.The three laws are Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

Hindustan Times

04-02-2021

India