Farmers Movement Archive

Police stop farmers’ march to Delhi at Haryana, U.P. borders

Tens of thousands of farmers are planning to storm Delhi on Friday to protest against the Centre’s new farm reform laws. With the Delhi police moving to prevent their entry, the alliance of farmers groups demanding the repeal of the laws has called for an “indefinite siege” of the Capital. Convoys of farmers from Punjab surged across Haryana throughout the day, having broken through or bypassed police barriers at multiple locations. At other points in Haryana and along the Uttar Pradesh border, however, farmers were blocked, while leaders were detained or arrested. Within Delhi, two protests were broken up by the police, and hundreds were detained. Although Delhi’s borders have not been sealed, barricades and pickets have been activated to prevent entry by the marching farmers. Five sand-laden trucks have been stationed at the Singhu border point to stop tractors, said senior Delhi police officials, adding that drones have also been deployed for security purposes. “It is expected that more than 50,000 farmers will be standing at the Delhi border by today evening. The numbers are expected to swell through the night as thousands of tractors and trolleys are carrying farmers, women and children from interior areas of Punjab,” said a statement from the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an alliance of farmers’ groups. Trade unions join stir The Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, and various factions of the Bharatiya Kisan Union are leading the protest under the SKM banner. Protests and strikes were also held in eastern and southern States, with trade unions joining in the agitation. At the Punjab-Haryana border in Shambu, the Haryana police resorted to use of tear gas and water cannons to disperse agitating farmers, who toppled and dismantled barricades. “The way we are being stopped from reaching Delhi, it seems Punjab and its people are not citizens of India. Barbed wires have been put at many places at Haryana border, which gives an impression as if it’s ‘Attari-Wagah’ border,” said Nirbhay Singh, senior leader of the Kirti Kisan Union. More than 10,000 farmers from Punjab managed to cross over to Haryana at two border points in Fatehabad as well as the crossings at Kaithal and Ambala, Haryana DGP Manoj Yadava told The Hindu . Swaraj India national president Yogendra Yadav, who was taken into preventive custody at Gurugram’s Rathiwas village along with a dozen protestors around noon, said it was unfortunate that farmers were being deprived of their basic constitutional right to go to the national capital for protest on Constitution Day. (With inputs from Ashok Kumar in Haryana, Vikas Vasudeva in Punjab, and Saurabh Trivedi and Priscilla Jebaraj in Delhi)

The Hindu

2020-11-27

NEW DELHI