Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers claim passage to UP Gate protest site denied

A day after the famers holding protest at the UP-Gate in Ghaziabad raised concerns about tractor-trolleys with farmers heading to the site being stopped at different districts in western UP, officials of the district administration met and assured them that this was not the case. Farmers’ leaders Rakesh Tikait and Sardar VM Singh on Saturday had raised the issue claiming that the local administrations and the police in Amroha, Bareilly and other districts were stopping farmers. “We had given them an ultimatum of 24 hours to resolve the issue or we would be forced to block roads. The meeting was successful,” said Shamsher Rana, national media co-ordinator of the Tikait-led Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) faction. Shailendra Kumar Singh,additional district magistrate (city) said that farmers were assured that no vehicle were being stopped in Ghaziabad and that they would speak to their counterpart in other jurisdictions of Meerut division.Praveen Kumar, inspector general (Meerut range) denied the farmers’ allegations. “We have allowed a number of farmers’ vehicles to come to UP Gate and there is no reason to stop them. However, at some points we are checking vehicles to ensure that no anti-social elements were proceeding to the site. This may have delayed some farmers,” Kumar said. District magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey also said no vehicle was stopped in his district. The farmers at UP Gate have been proteting since November 28, and have also blocked the Ghaziabad-Delhi carriageway of the National Highway-9 since December 3. Twice they had tried to hold up the Delhi-Ghaziabad carriageway, but vacated it soon. Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and former chief minister of Uttarakhand Harish Rawat visited UP-Gate and lent his support to the struggle. Rawat stayed for about half-an-hour at the site and also wore the green and white cap of the BKU. “I have come here to say ‘Kisan Ekta Zindabad.’ I am also a farmer and have come here to participate with them in their agitation as a farmer. The farmers are giving supreme sacrifice and no one has been able to win against god and farmers,” Rawat, said. He did not offer any political comments, but paid tributes to the farmers who died during the agitation. Farmers at UP Gate on Sunday held a prayer meeting from 11am to 1pm for them. Rawat also paid floral tributes at the site but was not allowed by farmers to use the dais for any address. The farmers maintained that the ongoing protest would not allow any politician or their parites to be a part of it. “It is farmers’ struggle and their own fight. If the opposition parties want to support our agitation, why not they ask their MPs to stage a similar protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi?” said Rajbir Singh, state vice-president of the BKU faction.

Hindustan Times

21-12-2020

Noida