Farmers Movement Archive

Delhi police blocked highway, not us: Farmers

A day after they boycotted the meeting called by a high-powered committee of the Haryana government, farmers protesting against the agricultural reforms stated that they have not blocked the national highway-44, rather it is the Delhi police who have obstructed free flow of traffic by installing barricades to stop their movement towards the national capital. Interacting with reporters in Jind, Samyukta Kisan Morcha leader Darshan Pal Singh said, “A nine-member committee of SKM had unanimously decided to boycott the meeting. The protesters have not blocked any road; it is the Delhi police who have installed barricades since November last year, leading to inconvenience for commuters. We have cleared one side of the highway but will not clear the other side,” he said. He further added, “On behalf of the SKM, I want to make it clear that we will not enter Delhi even if the police remove barricades. If we had a plan to enter Delhi, we might have entered the national capital by removing barricades by now. Our main focus is to strengthen this agitation at the village-level in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh,” he added.The farmers’ numbers have been dwindling at both the protest sites –Tikri and Singhu – as the harvesting season is round the corner. Activist Yogendra Yadav said the meeting called by the high-powered committee was pointless and the sole purpose of this meeting was to implicate farmers for blocking the highway.“The Haryana government should hold talks with the union home ministry under whose Delhi police comes and remove the blockade from NH-44. In the apex court’s directions, there were only two parties-state governments and union, whom it had asked to ensure safe passage on highways. The farmers were not any part, so we had skipped the meeting,” he added.

Hindustan Times

21-09-2021

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