Farmers Movement Archive

Effigy rally irks farmers at UP Gate

The arrival of politician Pappu Yadav and a mock funeral at the UP Gate protest site on Monday was termed a “mistake” by farmer leaders there.Despite farmers deciding that no politician or political party will be allowed to use their dais, Jan Adhikar Party chief Pappu Yadav on Monday addressed a gathering at UP Gate for 20 minutes, during which he accused the government of “favouring the corporates”.He was accompanied by Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader and national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait.This is the second time Yadav has come to the UP Gate protest site – his previous appearance was on December 1 when he came along with Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad and lent support to farmers.Earlier in the day on Monday, a group of protesting farmers prepared an effigy and carried out a mock “shav yatra” (funeral procession) as a symbolic protest at UP Gate, after which police officers from Khoda and Kaushambi police stations intervened and snatched the effigy.“It was a small group which resorted to carrying out a ‘shav yatra’ but our officers intervened and took the effigy away. Their leaders have been informed of the incident and we expect that they will ensure no such unruly activity is carried out at the protest site,” said Gyanendra Singh, superintendent of police (city 2), Ghaziabad. Jagtar Singh Bajwa, a farmer leader from Uttarakhand and also part of a committee leading the protest at UP Gate said that those involved in the procession were a small group of protesters who had joined the UP Gate site only recently. “We will ensure no such activity takes place in future. No group will be allowed to carry any such activity out of enthusiasm. Our protest is peaceful and will remain peaceful. We had earlier decided that no politically affiliated person will be allowed to share the dais but this happened on Monday. When we came to the dais, he (Pappu Yadav) was almost ending his speech. It has now been decided and reiterated that no politician will make use of the dais,” Bajwa said.Leaders of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, also reiterated said that Yadav delivering a speech there and the “shav yatra” were a “mistake.” “We know that such incidents have happened but they were a mistake. We will ensure that such incidents are not repeated. We will take up the issue when committee members at UP Gate sit down for discussions on Monday night,” said Rajbir Singh, state vice-president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union. Ghaziabad police on Monday took into preventive custody about 25 supporters and leaders of the Congress party and took them to police lines. “We were celebrating our party’s foundation day at our office (near Old Bus Stand) and thereafter heading to pay tributes to martyrs, but the police did not allow us and even used lathis to beat our supporters. They later brought us to police lines. Our office bearers had conveyed our program to district officials,” said Satish Sharma , a Congress leader and a former state minister. The police department, on their part, said that no force was used and that about 25 people were brought to the police lines. “They were bound down under Code of Criminal Procedure sections as about 100 of them were carrying out a procession without permission, with prohibitory orders already in place,” said Abhishek Verma, the superintendent of police (city 1), Ghaziabad.“Later, they were allowed to leave,” the superintendent of police added.

Hindustan Times

29-12-2020

Noida