Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers intensify 7-month stir, agriculture minister Tomar appeals for talks

NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: As their agitation against the new agri laws completed seven months, farmers tried to march to governors' residence in several states on Saturday even as Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar appealed them to end their stir and offered to resume talks on the provisions of the three legislations. Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of 40 farmer unions protesting at various Delhi border points, claimed that farmers were detained in states like Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana during the protests. Terming Tomar's recent statements as "perplexing and contradictory", it asserted that farmer leaders are not seeking some "meaningless amendments" in the central farm laws which have "fundamental flaws" and urged the people "to punish the BJP". Security was tightened in the national capital and other cities after the SKM said that representatives of farmers will submit memoranda of their demands, addressed to the President, to governors in various states. Hundreds of farmers from interiors of Uttar Pradesh, many of them on tractors, reached Ghazipur on Delhi's borders to mark the completion of seven months of the protest. Led by Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait, a group of protesters submitted a memorandum of their demands at the office of DCP Northeast Delhi after a virtual meeting with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. The farmers then called off their march to Delhi, BKU media incharge Dharmendra Malik said. "The memorandum included our demands for the withdrawal of the three new farms laws and for enacting a new law to ensure guarantee for MSP," he said. Farmers from several parts of Haryana gathered at Gurdwara Nada Sahib in Haryana's Panchkula and headed towards Haryana Raj Bhavan, forcing their way through a layer of barricades, but were stopped at the Chandigarh-Panchkula border where the state police had deployed water cannon and trucks. "Where was the need to stop the protestors It was only a matter of handing over a memorandum to the Governor and not allowing even this much is a reflection of the undeclared emergency and authoritarian times we are going through," the SKM said in a statement. Police used water cannon to stop agitating farmers from Punjab, coming from the Mohali side, but they succeeded in entering Chandigarh after breaking through barricades. Farmers from several parts of Punjab had assembled at Gurdwara Amb Sahib in Mohali before moving towards the Punjab Governor house. A majority of the protesters were without masks and were not following Covid-appropriate behaviour. "I want to convey through your (media) that farmers should end their agitation. ....Many are in favour of these new laws across the country. Still, some farmers have any issue with provisions of the laws, Government of India is ready to listen and discuss with them," agriculture minister Tomar tweeted. Addressing the protesters at Mohali, farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal Rajewal alleged that the central government intended to "hand over farming" to corporate houses. Carrying flags of unions and raising slogans against the BJP-led government, protesters, including women and youths, marched towards Chandigarh on tractors and other vehicles or walked on foot. They were stopped near sector 17 by police where some buses were parked on the road to prevent protesters from heading towards Punjab Raj Bhavan. Gangster-turned-activist Lakha Sidhana, who was booked for his alleged involvement in the violence at the Red Fort on Republic Day during a tractor rally, also participated in the farmers' protests. A Delhi court on Saturday granted interim protection from arrest to Sidhana. He had moved Delhi's Tis Hazari court seeking anticipatory bail in the case. Meanwhile, the Delhi police said on Saturday denied reports about the arrest of Tikait and said action will be taken against those spreading such fake news. PTI

The Times of India

2021-06-27

India