Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers to increase strength before taking a call on entering Gurugram

Farmer unions of Haryana and Rajasthan formed teams on Tuesday to reach out to other farmers and urge them to join the ongoing protest against the new farm laws passed by the Centre. They are visiting villages and meeting sarpanchs to get a large number of farmers and their family members to join them in Rewari and Rajasthan border, where they have been sitting in protest since the last Sunday. Protesters said they would decide if they should move towards the city or not only after they gather up to 3,000 people. Farmers protesting in Bawal in Rewari and Shahjahanpur on Delhi-Jaipur highway at the Haryana-Rajasthan border set up more than 30 tents on Wednesday. Traffic movement slowed down as only one side of the carriageway was operational. The police since Monday have set up barricades to stop the protestors from crossing the border. Members from some opposition parties also reached the protesting sites and extended their support to the farmers. However, the protestors said they do not want any political interference in their protest and denied taking any help from any of political parties. More than 20 tractor trolleys from Gujarat and Maharashtra also joined the protest at the two protest sites and started langar (community kitchen) for the farmers. One of the protestors said that local villages are sending up to 300 litres of milk and fresh vegetables along with flour every day. Satnarayan Nehra, president of Nehra Khap of Haryana, said that they are expecting more farmers and their family members to join the protest. “The strength is yet to increase and once we touch 3,000, we will move towards Delhi to support our fellow farmers. We are in touch with other farmers at the Singhu and Tikri borders in Delhi and we have planned to move forward after they give consent for the same. We have in store a month’s ration. We will take a decision by Thursday regarding our next step,” he said. The agitation staged by more than 1,000 farmer bodies on the Delhi-Jaipur highway has entered its fourth day. The protesters clashed with the police at Banipur chowk in Bawal on Monday, after which the police detained at least 10 protestors under the Preventive Detention Act. They were released after four hours. Ram Krishan Mehlawat of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Indian Farmers’ Union) from Bawal, said that the police can only stop them from protesting on highway. As such, they are protesting on the service lanes and are trying to increase their strength. “More farmers from various parts of Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra will be joining us on Thursday and Friday. If need be, we shall enter Gurugram forcefully,” he said. Tej Bahadur Yadav, a former constable of the Border Security Force (BSF), who was earlier sacked from service and who contested the election from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Varanasi Lok Sabha seat last year, also joined the protest and said that he was taking care of the logistics and administrative work related to the protest. “The number of protesting farmers is still below our expectations. We are waiting for more farmers to join us so that we can block the highway till the new farm laws are repealed. We will go on hunger strike if police do not allow us to cross the border,” he said, adding that he plans to visit more than 500 villages to convince farmers to join their protests. Abhishek Jorwal, superintendent of police (Rewari), said that farmers were not allowed to occupy the National Highway-48. “They are protesting on the service lanes where they have stationed their tractor-trolleys, cars and motorbikes. The traffic is being managed by the police personnel. Anyone who breaks the law will be arrested. We have deployed enough force to maintain the law and order situation. However, till now there has been no untoward incident,” he said.

Hindustan Times

16-12-2020

Gurugram