Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers in western UP block highways in support of ‘Chalo Dilli’ march

Farmers blocked traffic on highways at different points in eight districts of the Meerut region in western Uttar Pradesh on Friday in support of the ongoing agitation against three contentious agricultural laws passed by the Centre in September.Protests were witnessed in Meerut, Baghpat, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad and Bijnor. Adequate police arrangements were made in the view of the protests and traffic was diverted to other routes to prevent jams on highways, additional director general of police (Meerut zone) Rajeev Sabharwal said.The Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) had given the call for blocking highways in UP to show their solidarity with farmers from Punjab and Haryana who are on the way to the national capital as part of their ‘Chalo Dilli’ agitation against the new farm laws.Farmers fear the three laws-- The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020-- would make them vulnerable to exploitation by big corporations while doing away with the minimum support price (MSP) regime.Also Read: Farmers to be allowed into Delhi, says top cop, identifies protest site for themIn Meerut, a groom and his family members were stuck in the traffic jam and they had to walk to their destination to join the marriage ceremony.Dharmendra Malik, state spokesperson of BKU, said BKU leader Rakesh Tikait led the protest at Nawla on National Highway 58 in Muzaffarnagar.Also Read: ‘Only solution is...’ Haryana CM urges farmers to stop protestsHe said the future course of the movement would depend on Union government’s attitude towards thousands of farmers marching towards Delhi.He recalled that over five lakh farmers had staged a protest in Delhi for seven days in 1988 under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Tikait, compelling the then Rajiv Gandhi government at the Centre to accept their demands.

Hindustan Times

27-11-2020

India