By PTI
NEW DELHI: On the occasion of 75th Independence Day, ex-servicemen on Sunday held a march at the Singhu border where protesting farmers are celebrating ‘Kisan Mazdoor Azadi Sangram Diwas’.
Veteran farmer leader Satnam Singh hoisted the Tricolour at the Singhu border and some cultural programmes were also lined up, farmer leader Raminder Singh Patiala said.
“Satnam Singh (85) hoisted the Tricolour at 11 am, following which the former servicemen marched in their dresses. Students of DAV college in Jalandhar performed ‘Bhangra’ for around one-and-half-hour,” he said.
Jamhuri Kisan Sabha general secretary Kulwant Singh said ‘Kisan Mazdoor Azadi Sangram Diwas’ is being celebrated across the nation.
“The ex-servicemen marched from the KFC restaurant till the main stage at the Singhu border. ‘Kisan Mazdoor Azadi Sangram Diwas’ is being celebrated across the nation where people are hoisting flags in support of the farmers,” Patiala said.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) said lakhs of farmers joined the ‘Tiranga Yatras’ taken out in numerous ways in different parts of the country.
At the Haryana-Rajasthan border, farmers organised ‘Kisan Kavad Padyatra’ in which they carried “soils of their fields and water of their villages along with the Tricolour flying in their hands”.
“The kavads were deposited at the Shaheed Smarak built at Shahjahanpur border. Yatras were organised at the Tikri border and Ghazipur border too. Reports are coming in from different states about the tiranga yatras having been organised,” the umbrella body of 30 farmer unions said in a statement.
It added that in Sirsa, a colourful tableau was part of the ‘Tiranga Yatra’.
“On tractors were mounted machinery of farmers, including food processing machines, which were on display along with yarn spinning on charkhas by women,” it said.
Another leader said the national flag was also hoisted at the Tikri border.
A ‘Tiranga yatra’ was also held at the Ghazipur border.
“We hoisted the flag at 8 in the morning. A ‘Tiranga yatra’ of 500 motorcycles from Hapur reached the Ghazipur border at around 2 pm to celebrate the independence day,” Dharmendra Malik of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) said.
Farmers from different parts of the country have been protesting against the three laws since November last year.
While the farmers have expressed apprehension over the laws doing away with the Minimum Support Price system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporations, the government has been projecting the laws as major agricultural reforms.
Over 10 rounds of talks have failed to break the deadlock between the two parties.
Scores of farmers, including women, took part in the yatra, demanding the repeal of the three laws.
They put up the national flag on their tractors and other vehicles and marched on roads at many places, including Haryana’s Jind and Sirsa besides Punjab’s Barnala and Bathinda, said farmers.
In Jind’s Uchana, women led the protest and hoisted the national flag at the local mandi.
Protesting farmers said they will continue to hold protests till their demand is not accepted by the Centre.
Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said they observed “Kisan-Mazdoor Mukti Sangharsh Divas” at 40 places in Punjab.
He said they observed a two-minute silence in the memory of the farmers who lost their lives during the struggle against the “black laws”.
He slammed the Centre for not withdrawing the farm laws, claiming that it would adversely affect the farming community.
Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi’s borders in protest against the three laws since late November.
However, the government has maintained that the laws are pro-farmer.