News Analysis India

Tag: Farmers Protest in India

  • Bhim Army chief meets Rakesh Tikait at Ghazipur border, offers help to strengthen farmers’ protest

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad on Friday met farmer leader Rakesh Tikait at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border and said the Dalit group will provide all help to strengthen the agitation against the new farm laws.

    This comes a day after the Ghaziabad administration gave an ultimatum to the agitating farmers to vacate the UP Gate protest site in Ghazipur by Thursday night, even as farmer leader Rakesh Tikait remained adamant saying he would commit suicide but not end the stir Azad reached UP Gate around 6:30 PM with nearly 100 members of the Bhim Army.

    ALSO READ | UP Assembly polls: Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad stitches alliance with Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha

    The Dalit leader said Tikait is the “pride of western Uttar Pradesh” and he would fight shoulder-to-shoulder with the farmer leader.

    “We stand firm with our farmers and will provide all help needed to strengthen their protest,” Azad said.

    He claimed that the government will “try every trick to end this movement and instigate farmers to resort to violence”.

    “I appeal to you not to deviate from the path of non-violence,” he said.

    Earlier in the day, tens of thousands of farmers gathered in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar for a mahapanchayat in a massive outpouring of support for the Bharatiya Kisan Union-led protest against the three new farm laws in Ghazipur.

    The mahapanchayat resolved to throw its full weight behind the protest at Ghazipur, where farmers have been camping for over two months to demand the repeal of the farm laws and a legal guarantee on minimum support price for their crops.

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  • Farmers to hold ‘Sadbhavna Diwas’ on January 30, observe day-long fast

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Farmers protesting against the Centre’s new agri laws will observe ‘Sadbhavna Diwas’ on Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary on January 30 and hold a day-long fast, farm union leaders said on Friday.

    Addressing a press conference at Delhi’s Singhu border, the farmer leaders said the fast will be held from 9 AM to 5 PM and appealed to the people of the country to join them.

    ​ALSO READ | Farmers’ protest: Haryana govt orders suspension of internet services in 14 more districts

    The farmer leaders also slammed the ruling BJP at the Centre and accused it of trying to “destroy” the “peaceful” agitation against the agri laws.

    “The conspiracy of the ruling BJP to destroy this farmers’ movement is now exposed to all,” he said .

    The farmer leaders also asserted that the number of agitators at all the prominent protest venues – Ghazipur, Singhu and Tikri – is swelling after the police allegedly tried to remove farmer leader Rakesh Tikait from Ghazipur border on Thursday night.

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  • Group of locals demands farmers vacate Singhu border protest site

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A group of people claiming to be locals on Thursday demanded that farmers vacate the Singhu border protest site as they had “insulted” the national flag during their tractor rally on Republic Day.

    The people gathered on the road near the protest site and raised slogans against “insult” to the tricolour.

    Suresh, a 35-year-old labourer from Palla, said, “I work at a farmhouse near the border but haven’t been able to go work since December. My family depends on me. I am not against anyone’s movement, but I want them to leave. The protesters here breached security in Delhi and can do damage here as well.”

    ​ALSO READ | Will not be intimidated by Delhi Police notices, govt trying to end movement: Samyukta Kisan Morcha

    Thousands of protesting farmers clashed with the police during the tractor rally.

    Many of them, driving tractors, reached the Red Fort and entered the monument.

    They hoisted flags on the domes and placed the flagstaff at the ramparts of the national monument, where the national flag is unfurled by the prime minister on Independence Day.

    Delhi border points remained under heavy police deployment on Thursday in the aftermath of the violence that broke out during the farmers’ tractor parade in the national capital on Republic Day.

    Security personnel have also been deployed at the Red Fort.

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  • Congress slams Centre, says govt trying to divide, intimidate farmers protesting against agri laws

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday alleged that the government is trying to divide and intimidate the farmers to break their protest against the three agri laws with former party chief Rahul Gandhi saying that it was time to “choose a side” and he was with the peaceful movement of the tillers.

    Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra claimed that on Wednesday night, there was an attempt to finish the farmers’ protest by force and on Thursday farmers were being threatened at Gazipur and Singhu borders.

    “This is against every rule of democracy. The Congress will stand by farmers in this struggle. Farmers are the country’s interest. Those who want to break them are anti-national,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.

    ​ALSO READ | Will not be intimidated by Delhi Police notices, govt trying to end movement: Samyukta Kisan Morcha

    There should be strong action against violent elements, but those farmers who are protesting peacefully since months, the whole strength of the people of the country is with them, the Congress general secretary said.

    Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi, “It is time to choose a side. My decision is clear. I am with democracy, I am with farmers and their peaceful movement.”

    Earlier, at a press conference, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that the government was not able to solve the farmers’ issue after 10 rounds of talks and then the government found a way to divide these farmers.

    “They tried to divide the farmers and they also succeeded a bit,” he said.

    Two farmer unions — the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Bhanu) and the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan — on Wednesday withdrew from the ongoing agitation on Delhi’s borders against the three farm laws, a day after violence broke out in the national capital during the tractor parade.

    Kharge asserted that the party strongly stands behind farmers’ peaceful movement and will take up the issue of repeal of the three farm laws in the upcoming Parliament session.

    At the press conference, another senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said there is a widespread belief that the incidents at the Red Fort were instigated by sections close to the BJP and that any government with even a rusty intelligence machinery should have known that something like this will happen.

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    “The fact that they allowed tractors to enter the Red Fort complex and the police stood by while no more than 500 so-called farmers, protesters climbed on the ramparts and raised the flag, shows the connivance between the government and the so called protesters,” he said.

    “So, all this means the buck stops at the Home Minister’s table…he should answer whether there was intelligence failure, he should conduct a probe into whether there was connivance between sections of the BJP or BJP supporters and the so-called protesters who entered the Red Fort,” Chidambaram said.

    Asked about Union minister Prakash Javadekar’s remarks that Rahul Gandhi had always worked to provoke protestors, Chidambaram said, “Well, I don’t think you should take the minister for misinformation and broadcasting very seriously. He has his standard reply for anything that happens in the country, he will blame Mr. Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party. Has he ever responded in a different way?”

  • Farmer leaders at Singhu border take out ‘Sadbhavna’ rally to reinforce unity among protesters

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Farmer union leaders took out a “Sadbhavna rally” from the Singhu border on Thursday to reinforce a sense of unity among the protestors, two days after their tractor parade turned violent, leaving 394 security personnel injured and one agitator dead.

    Several farmer union leaders, including including Balbir Singh Rajewal, Daljeet Singh Dallewal, Darshan Pal and Gurnam Singh Chaduni, who led the rally said the march was organised “to counter the forces trying to divide the protesting farmers along religious lines and as per states” and to show that they respect the tricolour.

    Several tractors and two-wheelers with the national flag took part in the 16 km-long rally which started from the stage at the Singhu protest site and went up to the beginning of the Kundli-Manesar Palwal highway.

    ALSO READ | Will not be intimidated by Delhi Police notices, govt trying to end movement: Samyukta Kisan Morcha

    This rally was a response to the government’s allegations that the farmers insulted the national flag on Republic Day.

    Farmers from both Punjab and Haryana participated in the rally which displayed immense unity between the two states.

    “We wanted to take out this rally to show that the farmers respect the national flag more than anyone else. And this country belongs to the farmers, because it is functioning essentially because of its farmers and the labourers,” said Avtar Singh Mehma of the Krantikari Kisan Union (Punjab).

    He added that all the participating vehicles in the rally did not have their farmer union flags, but just the tricolour.

    Throughout the course of the rally, participating farmers chanted slogans of farmer unity and Punjab-Haryana brotherhood.

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    Jagmohan Singh, the general secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta (Dakaunda) said the rally was organised “to counter the forces trying to divide the protesting farmers along religious lines and as per states”.

    “Historically Punjabis and Haryanvis have always protected the honour of the tricolour, and now this government is making cases against us for disrespecting the national flag. We will never let the government malign the farmers’ struggle, and all of us will fight as a unified force,” Jagmohan Singh said.

    “Patriotism is not exercised just by a particular group of people” it is the families of farmers that give Indian army its soldiers. Farmers are equally patriotic if not more, he added.

    The rally comes two days after the tractor rally parade on Republic Day, which resulted in clashes between the farmers and police in different parts of the city.

  • Haryana Cabinet holds special meeting, appeals to protesting farmers to return home

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: The Haryana Cabinet held a special meeting here on Tuesday evening under the chairmanship of Chief Minister M L Khattar in the wake of the events that unfolded in the national capital during the tractor parade and appealed to all protesting farmers to return to their homes.

    Khattar said farmer unions had assured a peaceful tractor rally in the national capital.

    “But the events which unfolded today make it clear that this agitation is now not under the control of these farmer leaders. And the command of this agitation is now in the hands of such anarchic elements whose ideology is different from the farmers’ interests,” he said.

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    The chief minister issued a statement asking the farmer community to ponder over where their agitation was headed.

    “The entire Haryana cabinet, through its special meeting held today, humbly appeals to all farmers of this agitation to return to their homes. The strong need of the hour this time is that together we defeat the designs of the anti-social elements,” Khattar said.

    Earlier, he described as “most unfortunate” the incident of a protesting farmer hoisting a religious flag at the Red Fort.

    Such an incident at Red Fort on Republic Day is strongly condemnable, Khattar had said.

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    “In a democratic setup, there is adequate space to resolve issues through dialogue,” he said, referring to the farmers who have been sitting in protest for two months near Delhi’s borders against the Centre’s new farm laws.

    But no Indian will tolerate anyone hoisting any flag other than the tricolour from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Khattar said.

    This is an insult to those freedom fighters and martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sake of this nation, he added.

    The freedom fighters did not fight for the country’s independence to see the spread of this type of anarchy, Khattar said.

  • Didn’t remove tricolour, was only ‘symbolic protest’: Actor Deep Sidhu amid outrage over flag incident

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: Amid a massive outrage over protesters hoisting a religious flag at the Red Fort during the tractor rally on Republic Day, actor Deep Sidhu, who was among those present during the incident, on Tuesday sought to defend their action, saying it was a symbolic protest and they did not remove the national flag.

    In a video posted on Facebook, he said that they should not be given any communal colour or dubbed as fundamentalists or hardliners. “To symbolically register our protest against the new farm legislations, we put up ‘Nishan Sahib’ and a farmer flag and also raised a slogan of Kisan Mazdoor Ekta,” said Sidhu.

    The flag represents the country’s “unity in diversity”, he said while pointing towards the ‘Nishan Sahib’, a symbol of Sikh religion seen at all Gurdwara complexes.

    ​CLICK HERE FOR LIVE UPDATES

    He stated that the national flag was not removed from the flagpole at the Red Fort and that nobody raised a question over the country’s unity and integrity.

    Leaders across the political spectrum on Tuesday condemned the violence and the Red Fort incident, with the Congress’ Shashi Tharoor saying he supported the farmers’ protests from the start but cannot condone “lawlessness”.

    “Most unfortunate. I have supported the farmers’ protests from the start but I cannot condone lawlessness.  And on #RepublicDay no flag but the sacred tiranga should fly aloft the Red Fort,” the former Union minister said on Twitter, tagging a tweet that carried a video of the incident.

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    “Sidhu, who has been associated with the farmers’ agitation for the last many months, said “anger flares up” in a mass movement like this when the genuine rights of people are ignored.

    “In today’s situation, that anger flared up,” he said.

    Swaraj Abhyan leader Yogendra Yadav, who is among the leaders spearheading the agitation against the farm laws, said they had distanced Sidhu “from our protest right from the beginning”.

    “When he participated in a protest at Shambu border and seeing their activities, the farmer unions had decided to keep them away from our movement,” he said.

    The Samkyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 41 farmer unions that is leading the protest against the three central farm laws, also disassociated itself from those who indulged in violence during the tractor parade, and alleged that some “antisocial elements” infiltrated their otherwise peaceful movement.

  • ‘Miscreants plotting to disrupt our peaceful tractor parade on R-Day’: Farmer leaders

    Express News Service
    CHANDIGARH: Farmer leaders have alleged that a plot has been hatched to disrupt their proposed tractor parade on Republic Day.

    They also said that a conspiracy has been plotted to kill four leaders, as they have caught a youth who was allegedly in police uniform and has confessed he was part of group who had been instructed to create disturbance during the tractor rally on January 26.

    The farmers have handed over the youth to Haryana Police. 

    On Friday night, the farmer leaders presented a masked youth, whose identity was not revealed, claimed that he and his ten accomplices were allegedly asked to be in police uniforms and baton charge the crowd during the proposed tractor rally on Republic Day.

    ​ALSO READ | ‘Murder plot’: Man handed over to Haryana police by farmer leaders being quizzed

    Farmer leader Kulwant Singh Sandhu alleged,”Attempts are being made by agencies to disrupt the farmers agitation against the farm laws. We have caught this person from the protest site at the Singhu border and he revealed an alleged plot to shoot four farmer leaders we cannot divulge the names of those leaders, as he showed us their photos on his mobile phone. Also he was tasked to cause disruption during farmers’ tractor march on January 26. We handed him over to the Haryana Police.”

    The youth who’s face was covered with a scarf claimed that a plan has been hatched to shoot four farmer leaders, who are ‘popular faces’.

    The youth said that he and a few other men and women were “working on behest of some people and a station house officer to carry out the attack on famrer leaders.”

    ​ALSO READ | Punjab arhtiyas to shut shops for three days from January 25 in support of farmers’ stir

    “The youth has told us that besides their group there are at least 50 to 60 of them who are now among the protesting farmers and at two places weapons have already reached and taking those weapons they were to fire,” said another farmer leader Jagjeet Singh Dallewal.

    The youth further alleged that his handlers will meet him in hotels and other places and had promised to give him Rs 10,000. 

    “We have been told by our handlers that the protestors were not good people and were our enemies,” he alleged.

    The youth also claimed that their team had also created disturbance in the Jat stir in 2016 and more recently they created disturbance at the Kisan Mahapanchyat of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in Karnal.

    ​ALSO READ | Punjab, Haryana farmers to set out for tractor parade in Delhi on Saturday

    While Rakesh Tikait of Bhartiya Kisan Union said, “our agitation has been peaceful. It is now matter of investigation who will benefit from disturbing our agitation. We cannot guarantee whether this youth is speaking the truth or not.”

    Superintendent of Police of Sonipat Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said the story seemed to be unreal but the police is doing thorough investigation.

    Meanwhile, another police official said that the youth was 21-year-old and was contacted by an unknown person on January 19.

    Further investigation is underway.

  • SC to hear pleas against new agri laws, all issues related to farmers protest on January 11

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Wednesday said it would hear on January 11 a batch of pleas challenging the new farm laws as also the ones raising issues related to the ongoing farmers” protest at Delhi borders.

    A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde, which observed that there is no improvement on the ground regarding farmers” protests, was informed by the Centre that “healthy discussions” are going on between the government and farmers over these issues.

    Attorney General K K Venugopal said there is a good chance that parties may come to a conclusion in the near future and filing of response by the Centre on the pleas challenging the new farm laws might foreclose the negotiations between the farmers and government.

    Farmers protest: CJI says all petitions challenging the constitutionality of the three farm acts will be heard together on Monday @NewIndianXpress @TheMornStandard
    — kanupsarda (@sardakanu_TNIE) January 6, 2021

    Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, while informing the bench that talks are going on between the government and farmers in a “healthy atmosphere”, said that these matters should not be listed for hearing on January 8.

    “We understand the situation and encourage the consultation. We can adjourn the matters on Monday (January 11) if you submit the same due to the ongoing consultation process,” the bench said.

    The top court was hearing a plea filed by advocate M L Sharma challenging the farm laws.

    The bench issued notice to the Centre seeking its response on Sharma’s plea which has alleged that the Central government has no locus under the Constitution to frame these laws.

    During the hearing, conducted through video-conferencing, the bench said at the outset, “These are farm matters. Where are the other matters? When they are listed? We are going to hear all the matters together”.

    ALSO READ | Undeterred by cold weather, rains, protesting farmers warn to intensify stir further

    The bench asked Mehta to find out the status of other matters and as to when they are listed.

    Mehta said that no specific date was given earlier for hearing on these pleas.

    “We are keeping this plea (filed by Sharma) for hearing on Friday and we allow the amended petition to be taken on record in the meanwhile,” the bench said.

    “M L Sharma always files startling petitions and he says that the Centre has no power to make laws,” the bench observed, adding, “Mr Sharma says that you (government) are colluding and making laws.”

    The top court said it would take up the plea along with other pending matters “because we think that the condition has not improved already”.

    After Mehta said that talks are going on in “healthy atmosphere”, the bench said it would take up these matters on January 11.

    The apex court had earlier issued notice and sought the Centre’s response on a batch of pleas against the three contentious farm laws — Farmers” (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, Farmers” Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020.

    While hearing the pleas on the issue of farmers’ protest, the top court had on December 17 said that the agitation should be allowed to continue “without impediment” and this court will not “interfere” with it as the right to protest is a fundamental right.

    While acknowledging the right to non-violent protest of farmers, the apex court was also of the view that their right to protest should not infringe the fundamental rights of others to move freely and in getting essential food and other supplies as right to protest cannot mean blockade of the entire city.

    In its December 17 order, the bench had said: “We clarify that this court will not interfere with the protest in question. Indeed the right to protest is part of a fundamental right and can as a matter of fact, be exercised subject to public order. There can certainly be no impediment in the exercise of such rights as long as it is non-violent and does not result in damage to the life and properties of other citizens and is in accordance with law.

    “We are of the view at this stage that the farmers” protest should be allowed to continue without impediment and without any breach of peace either by the protesters or the police”.

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  • Undeterred by cold weather, rains, protesting farmers warn to intensify stir further

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Camping at protest venues near Delhi borders for around 40 days, braving severe cold and sporadic rains, farmers have asserted that their stir against the farm laws will intensify in the coming days, even as they deferred Wednesday’s proposed tractor march over a bad weather forecast.

    The deadlock continues as the seventh round of talks with the Centre remained inconclusive, with the farmer groups sticking to their demand for the repeal of the three new laws, and the government listing out various benefits of the new Acts.

    The national capital, meanwhile, reels under a spell of harsh winter.

    The city woke up on Wednesday to the rumble of thunder and the sound of hailstones hitting rooftops and windows as it received rainfall for the fourth consecutive day.

    ​ALSO READ | Farmers gear up for R-Day showdown, to hold ‘rehearsal’ tractor rally on Thursday

    The rains, caused by a strong western disturbance, come on the back of a “severe” cold wave that gripped Delhi in the run-up to New Year.

    On Friday, the mercury had plummeted to 1.1 degrees Celsius, the lowest in 15 years for January.

    On Tuesday, the protesting farmers said they were deferring their proposed tractor march from January 6 to January 7 due to a bad weather forecast.

    Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and some other parts of the country have been camping at several Delhi border points since November 28, demanding repeal of the farm laws, a legal guarantee on minimum support price for their crops and other two issues.

    Last week, the government agreed to exclude farmers from penal provisions of the Air Quality Management ordinance and to not pursue the draft Electricity Bill.

    Since the farmers arrived at the national capital’s borders, the Delhi Traffic Police has been posting alerts on its official Twitter handle to inform commuters about road closures across the city.

    In a series of tweets on Wednesday, it said Singhu, Auchandi, Piau Maniyari, Saboli and Mangesh borders were closed for traffic movement.

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    “Please take alternate route via Lampur Safiabad, Palla & Singhu school toll tax borders. Traffic has been diverted from Mukarba & GTK road. Please avoid Outer Ring Road, GTK Road & NH-44.

    “The Chilla and Ghazipur borders are closed for traffic coming from Noida & Ghaziabad to Delhi because of farmer protests. Please take alternate route for coming to Delhi via Anand Vihar, DND, Bhopra & Loni Borders,” the traffic police said.

    It said Tikri and Dhansa borders are also closed for traffic movement.

    “Jhatikara Border is open only for LMV (Cars/Light Motor Vehicles), two wheelers and pedestrian movement,” another tweet read.

    According to the traffic police, people travelling to Haryana can take the routes via Jharoda (only single carriageway), Daurala, Kapashera, Badusarai, Rajokri NH-8, Bijwasan/Bajghera, Palam Vihar and Dundahera borders.