Farmers Movement Archive

Haryana farmers' convoy leaves for Delhi to join protest at Delhi borders

Defying the Covid lockdown, thousands of farmers gathered at Haryana’s Karnal and Panipat toll plazas before leaving in a convoy for Delhi in a build up to the May 26 protest, organised to mark six months of the agitation against the three controversial farm laws enacted by the centre.The gatherings at the two toll plazas, where many farmers were not seen wearing masks or maintaining social distance, was also aimed at dispelling the notion that their protest, which started at several points on Delhi borders in November last year, was dying out amid the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. On May 20, a large convoy of farmers from Punjab's Taran Taran had left for Delhi and a prominent farmer leader has promised that convoys of around 2,000 vehicles each will leave every week from one district of the state for Delhi to participate in the May 26 protests.Farmers have been protesting at five sites in large camps near Delhi’s borders: Singhu, Ghaziabad, Tikri, Dhansa and at Shahjahanpur on the Rajasthan-Haryana border, demanding the rollback of three laws passed in September last year to lift restrictions on trade in farm produce. They have described the laws as pro-corporate. However, the government has maintained that the laws are for their benefit.The continued protests have also sparked concerns of a potential spread of Covid-19 infections, but the farmers have refused to give up the agitation, citing it as a matter of livelihoodHaryana Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) president Gurnam Singh Charuni led the farmers’ convoy of SUVs, cars and bikes from Karnal's Bastara toll plaza, where they had gathered since Sunday morning."This new movement of farmers will not only give strength to the agitation but will also give a message to those claiming that the agitation is likely to end due to a decline in the number of farmers at Delhi borders," said a farmer leader pleading anonymity.With the harvesting of wheat finished and transplantation of paddy to start from June 15, farmers’ unions from Haryana are reaching out to villages for the past one week to ensure a huge gathering of farmers from the state reaches Delhi borders on May 26.So far, 11 rounds of talks between 40 farm leaders and the government have failed to resolve the crisis. Both the government and farmers called off the series of discussions on January 22, citing lack of progress. The unions have rejected the government’s offer to freeze the laws for 18 months. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of over 40 protesting farmer unions, which is spearheading the protests, has written to the prime minister on Friday, urging resumption of talks.Gurnam Singh Charuni, who is also a member of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, slammed Haryana police’s action on farmers. "Farmers were beaten up and the police also registered FIRs against farmers but why did they not book the cops who had assaulted women farmers and damaged our vehicles," he asked.He was referring to over 350 farmers getting booked for rioting, unlawful assembly and obstructing any public servant in discharge of public functions among other charges after they protested outside a temporary Covid hospital in Hisar, where Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar was scheduled to inaugurate the hospital earlier a few days ago.

Hindustan Times

23-05-2021

India