News Analysis India

Tag: tractor rally violence

  • Now, MP Police books Shashi Tharoor, Rajdeep Sardesai, others for spreading misinformation

    Express News Service
    BHOPAL: As many as four criminal cases have been registered against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, journalist Rajdeep Sardesai and others in three districts of BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh for allegedly spreading misinformation on social media about the January 26 farmers’ tractor rally.

    The FIRs were lodged on the complaints of farmers. Among the accused are Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, Rajdeep Sardesai (India Today), Mrinal Pandey (National Herald) Zafar Agha (Urdu daily Qaumi Awaz), and Paresh Nath, Anant Nath, and Vinod Jose (The Caravan).

    The cases have been lodged at Misrod police station of Bhopal and the Sarani and Multai police stations of Betul and Shivpur police station of Hoshangabad district.

    The cases have been registered under IPC Sections, including 124-A (sedition),153-A (promoting enmity between groups), 153-B (imputation or assertion prejudicial to national integration), 295-A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings), Section 504 (intentional insult), Section 506 (criminal intimidation), 505(2) (statements conducing public mischief), 298 (uttering words, etc with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings), 120-B (criminal conspiracy to commit offence punishable by death) and 34 (acts done by several persons with a common intent).

    While confirming the lodging of the four FIRs, the in-charges of the four police stations said investigations are now underway in all the cases.  

    ALSO READ | FIR against Shashi Tharoor, Rajdeep Sardesai others for seditious tweets on farmer’s death during tractor rally

    Complainants farmer Balmukund Singh Dongre (who filed FIR at the Multai police station in Betul district) said, “I belong to a family whose prime occupation has been farming for many generations. We all were backing the farmers’ stir until the violent incidents happened in Delhi on Republic Day.”

    “The Republic Day violence is condemnable. No farmer can attack the police. Farmer is Anndaataa and not Atankwadi who will disrespect the national flag. All those involved in the violence shouldn’t be spared at any cost,” Dongre said.

    “Instead of behaving responsibly, prominent citizens, including Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor and senior journalists such as Rajdeep Sardesai and Mrinal Pandey spread misinformation about a farmer being died after being hit by bullets fired by police during the tractor rally, which was ultimately responsible for adding fuel to the massive violence across the national capital thereafter. All those named in the FIR should be sternly dealt with under the law of the land, which is why I have lodged a case against them,” the young farmer said. 

    Earlier, on Thursday a similar FIR was registered against the same persons by the Uttar Pradesh police.

  • Farmers’ tractor parade: Plea in SC seeks inquiry commission to look into violence on Republic Day

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A plea was filed on Wednesday in the Supreme Court seeking setting up of a commission, headed by a retired apex court judge, to inquire the violence during the protesting farmers’ tractor rally in the national capital on the Republic Day.

    The plea has also sought direction to the concerned authority to lodge First Information Report (FIR) under relevant penal provisions against the individuals or organisations responsible for the violence and causing dishonour of the National Flag on January 26.

    The tractor parade on Tuesday that was to highlight the demands of farmer unions to repeal three new agri laws dissolved into anarchy on the streets of Delhi as thousands of protesters broke through barriers, fought with the police, overturned vehicles and hoisted a religious flag from the ramparts of the iconic Red Fort.

    Delhi Police has registered 22 FIRs so far in connection with the violence in which over 300 policemen were injured, officials said on Wednesday.

    The plea, filed in the apex court by advocate Vishal Tiwari, has said that a three-member inquiry commission under the chairmanship of a former top court judge and comprising of two retired high court judges should be set up for collecting and recording evidence in the matter and submit a report to the court in a time bound manner.

    It said that farmers’ protest against the three new agri laws is going on for over two months but it took a “violent turn” during the tractor parade.

    “Unfortunately, the tractor march took a violent turn leaving injuries and destruction of public property. This incident also effected the daily life of the public. The internet services were interrupted as government ordered the operators to suspend the same  In the present time, the internet services are very essential to carry out the work in different professions especially in advocacy as the courts and our Supreme Court of India is functioning online,” Tiwari has said in his plea.

    The petition said that clash between the farmers and police on the Republic Day has caught the attention of the entire world.

    “The matter is serious because when the protest was going on peacefully for last two months then suddenly, how it turned into violent movement and led violence on January 26. The question for consideration in national security and public interest arises that who is responsible for creating the disturbance and how and who turned the peaceful farmer protest into violent movement or how and who created the circumstances which let the protest turn violent,” it said.

    “The blames are from both sides and the matter is to be inquired by an independent agency i. e by setting up an inquiry commission under the chairmanship of retired Supreme Court Judge,” the plea said.

    It said there may be some conspiracy by some “notorious forces or organizations” to cause disturbance and damage the peaceful protest and create clash between police and protesting farmers.

    On January 20, the Centre had withdrawn its application seeking an injunction against the proposed tractor march on January 26 after the apex court had said that issue of tractor rally by farmers protesting against the new farms laws was in “executive domain”.

    The Centre, through Delhi Police, had filed an application seeking an injunction against the proposed tractor or trolley march or any other kind of protest which seeks to disrupt the Republic Day gathering and celebrations.

    On January 12, the apex court had stayed the implementation of the contentious new farm laws till further orders and constituted a four-member committee to make recommendations to resolve the impasse over them between the Centre and farmers’ unions protesting at Delhi borders.

    The members of the court-appointed committee were — Bhupinder Singh Mann, National President of Bhartiya Kisan Union, All India Kisan Coordination Committee; Parmod Kumar Joshi, Director for South Asia, International Food Policy Research Institute; Ashok Gulati, agricultural economist and former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, and Anil Ghanwat, President of Shetkari Sanghatana.

    Later, Mann had recused himself from the committee.

    The top court had on January 12 said it would hear the pleas against the farm laws after eight weeks when the committee would give its suggestions to resolve the impasse after talking to the protesters and the government.

    Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, are protesting at various border points of Delhi for over a month now against the three laws — the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act.

    Enacted in September 2020, the government has presented these laws as major farm reforms aimed at increasing farmers’ income, but the protesting farmers have raised concerns that these legislations would weaken the minimum support price (MSP) and “mandi” (wholesale market) systems and leave them at the mercy of big corporations.

    The government has maintained that these apprehensions are misplaced and has ruled out a repeal of the laws.

  • ‘No relation’ with Deep Sidhu, says BJP MP Sunny Deol after former’s ‘participation’ in Red Fort stir

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: After the videos went viral on social media showing actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu handed over a flag to a man to hoist on the ramparts of the Red Fort on the Republic Day during farmers’ tractor rally, farmer leaders on Wednesday raised doubts over his political affiliation, claiming that “he is a worker of the Bharatiya Janata Party”.

    After the Red Fort incident, Sidhu posted a video on his Facebook page claiming that, “We have only hoisted the Nishan Sahib at the Red Fort while exercising our democratic right to protest.”

    Responding to Sidhu’s video, Bhartiya Kisan Union Rakesh spokesperson Rakesh Tikait told ANI that “Deep Sidhu is not a Sikh, he is a worker of the BJP.”

    ALSO READ | Deep Sidhu, blamed for Red Fort violence, had campaigned for BJP MP

    “There is a picture of him with the Prime Minister. This is a movement of farmers and will remain so. Some people will have to leave this place immediately- those who broke barricading will never be a part of the movement,” he said.

    The BKU leader asserted that those who created violence and unfurled flags at Red Fort will have to pay for their deeds. “For the last two months, a conspiracy is going on against a particular community. This is not a movement of Sikhs, but farmers. Our issues remain the same and our protest will continue,” he said.

    Farmer leader SS Pandher of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee said: “Some miscreants joined the protest to defame farmers’ movement. We did not plan to unfurl the flags at Red Fort, this was not our program. Deep Sidhu’s photo with the Prime Minister has floated, we had already expressed doubt over him.”

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

    BJP MP Sunny Deol whose picture with PM Modi and Sidhu went viral on social media, took to Twitter to clarify that he has “no relation” with the actor turned activist.

    “I am very sad to see what happened at Red Fort today, I have already cleared through Facebook on December 6 that I or my family have no relation with Deep Sidhu,” he tweeted.

    Leaders of farmer unions protesting against the farm laws have said that Sidhu had directed youth to move towards the Red Fort yesterday.

    On Tuesday, protesters agitating against the new farm laws entered the premises of Red Fort in the national capital and waved flags they were carrying from its ramparts.

    A day after the violence broke out during a tractor rally in various parts of the national capital, security has been heightened at the Singhu border (Delhi-Haryana border), and Tikri border, where farmers have been protesting against agricultural laws for over two months. A large number of security forces has been deployed at the protest sites.

    Farmers broke barricades to enter Delhi and indulged in vandalism across several parts of the national capital during their Kisan tractor rally organised to protest against the Centre’s three new farm laws. Several public and private properties being damaged in acts of vandalism by the rioting mob.

    Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

  • Farmers’ union calls meeting to discuss violence during tractor parade in Delhi

    By PTI
    Samkyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of protesting unions, has called a meeting later on Wednesday to discuss the violence that broke out during the farmers’ tractor parade in the national capital.

    Before the Morcha meeting, representatives of 32 Punjab unions will also meet at the Singhu border, a major protest site against the three new farm laws.

    A senior farmer leader said, “The Samkyukta Kisan Morcha will meet around 3 pm on Wednesday and discuss all aspects pertaining to violence that happened during the tractor parade in Delhi”.

    ALSO READ | Delhi Police registers 22 FIRs in connection with violence during farmers’ tractor rally

    The Samkyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 41 farmer unions, is leading the protest against the three central farm laws at several border points of Delhi.

    After violence broke out during the tractor parade on Tuesday, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha had called off the parade and appealed to participants to immediately return to their respective protest sites.

    The tractor parade on Tuesday that was to highlight the demands of the farmer unions to repeal three new agri laws dissolved into anarchy on the streets of the city as tens of thousands of protesters broke through barriers, fought with police, overturned vehicles and hoisted a religious flag from the ramparts of the iconic Red Fort The Delhi Police has registered 22 FIRs so far in connection with the violence in several area that has left over 300 policemen injured.

    The Kisan Morcha had disassociated itself from those who indulged in violence during the tractor parade, and alleged that some “antisocial elements” infiltrated their otherwise peaceful movement.

    Farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at several Delhi border points, including Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur, since November 28, demanding a complete repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee on minimum support price for their crops.

  • Deep Sidhu, blamed for Red Fort violence, had campaigned for BJP MP

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Punjabi actor-singer Deep Sidhu was blamed by farmer unions for inciting the youths to march to Red Fort and hoist the `Nishan Sahib’, the Sikh religious flag. there. 

    “Deep Sidhu instigated the youth to take over the agitation and give it a different colour. He damaged our agitation and we don’t know who they are working for,” Joginder Singh Ugrahan of BK1J (Ugrahan) said. In videos doing the rounds on social media on Tuesday, Sidhu was seen holding the Khalsa flag and shouting slogans in support of Mazdoor Ekta’ and Khalsa at Red Fort. 

    As the Red Fort violence came in for widespread condemnation, farmer unions were quick to disassociate themselves from Sidhu. It was also alleged that he supported the Khalistani movement. The 36-year-old artist frequently quotes Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. 

    Later, a photo of Sidhu along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP’s Gurdaspur MP and actor Sunny Deol started circulating on social media platforms. He is said to have campaigned for Deol in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Sidhu was part of the actor’s campaign team, but Deol had distanced himself from Sidhu in December after he joined the farmers’ agitation.

    Deep Sidhu (second from right) with PM Modi and BJP MPSunny Deol. (Photo | Twitter) 

    In a video posted on Facebook, Sidhu justified the move and said, “We have only hoisted the Mahan Sahib flag on the Red Fort while exercising our democratic right to protest. In this kind of protest, people’s anger flares up and you cannot blame one person for inciting the protesters.” He clarified that the national flag was not removed from the flag pole at Red Fort.  

  • Mayawati terms violence in Delhi during farmers’ tractor parade ‘unfortunate’

    By PTI
    LUKCNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Wednesday termed “unfortunate” the incidents of violence during farmers’ tractor parade in Delhi.

    She reiterated her appeal to the Centre to withdraw the three new farm laws immediately and end the long-running agitation of the farmers so that no such untoward incident can happen again.

    Her remarks come after tens of thousands of farmers broke barriers to storm the national capital on Tuesday.

    Clashes broke out in multiple places, leading to violence in well-known landmarks of Delhi and its suburbs, amid waves of violence that ebbed and flowed through the day.

    “Whatever happened during the farmers’ tractor rally on Republic Day in Delhi yesterday, it should not have happened at all.

    This is very unfortunate and the central government must also take it very seriously,” Mayawati said in a tweet in Hindi.

    “Also, the BSP once again appeals to the central government to withdraw the three agri laws immediately and end the agitation of the farmers so that no such untoward incident can happen again,” she tweeted.

  • Violence mars peaceful protest as mobs hijack tractor parade on Republic day

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  Republic Day that is marked by pomp and show in front of stately government edifices and seats of power turned into a day of anarchy when thousands of farmers entered the heart of Delhi much ahead of the agreed time and after deviating from pre-determined routes. What was promised to be a peaceful tractor rally at agreed routes was anything but that as the protesters, who outnumbered the police in all the three routes, defied tear gassing and lathicharge.

    They breached barricades and clashed with the police at several locations. By the end of the day, one farmer had died, an unspecified number of them injured and 86 police personnel were hurt, some of the critically, the police said. The farmers riding tractors, SUVs and two-wheelers breached security cordons and barricades, entering Delhi before 12 noon, the agreed time for their rally.

    Protesters clash with police near Mukarba Chowk

    The first breach happened from the Singhu border in north Delhi, when farmers forced their way through. This was followed by protesters entering the city from Ghazipur in East Delhi.  Once in the city, the protesters clashed with the police first in ITO, central Delhi. They used their tractors to break the police barricades. Buses parked in the middle of the road to obstruct them were vandalised and it was here that Navneet Singh, a farmer driving a tractor died.

    While the police claimed he died as his tractor turned turtle, the farmers alleged that Navneet was killed in police firing. The protesters draped his body in Tricolor and sat in protest for several hours in the middle of the road. The scene then shifted to the historic Red Fort, where both sides fought pitched battles. Hundreds of farmers reached its rampart and hoisted their flag where the Prime Minister every Independence Day hoists the national flag and addresses the nation.

    “About 200 artists and kids who got stranded inside Red Fort were safely rescued. These artists came here for the Republic Day parade. The police first took them to a nearby hotel in Daryaganj to have food and then carefully rescued them to their destination,” said DCP North Anto Alphonse. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, the umbrella organisation of all the 40 farm unions distanced itself from the violence and blamed anti-social elements.

    Later in the evening it said they had called off the kisan rally and asked all the farmers to return to the borders. Joginder Singh Ugrahan, the leader of the biggest farm union, accused actor-singer Deep Sidhu for the violence and the flag hoisting at Red Fort. Sidhu was part of the election campaign team of Sunny Deol, BJP member of Parliament from Gurdaspur in Punjab. A leader of the morcha said it was the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee that deviated from the agreed route. AIKS leader Hannan Mollah condemned the violence and said the farmers had been holding a peaceful agitation for the past several weeks.

    an overturned tractor at ITO in central Delhi that killed its driver | PTI , SHEKHAR YADAV

    The Republic Day shocker

    Delhi Police registers 4 first information reports The Delhi Police registered four FIRs in connection with the violence. “Three FIRs were registered in east district and one in Shahdara district on Tuesday,” a police official said

    Paramilitary deploymentA meeting chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah decided to deploy additional paramilitary troops in the wake of the violence. Around 1,500 to 2,000 personnel could be deployed

    Flagrant violation of terms for kisan rally

    Tractor rally was permitted to start only after official R-Day parade, but a section of the protestors jumped the gun
    Tractors violated the agreement on not carrying more than five persons
    No weapons were to be carried, another stipulation that was completely ignored
    Routes were clearly defined, but mobs took detours, violently confronting the police
    Blow-by-blow account

    8:30 am: Farmers begin tractor march at all three borders — Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur — much before the agreed time of 12 noon; break barricades, try to push across cement dividers placed by Delhi Police10.50 am: Mob forcibly tries to enter Outer Ring Road, clashes with police; policemen resort to caning, firing tear gas shells 11.30 am: Farmers from Ghazipur enter Delhi via Akshardham flyover; mob breaks barricades, cement blocks, central median; faces police batons and tear gas 1.30-2.00 pm: Hundreds of people reach Kashmeri Gate; break barricades, enter Red Fort and hoist Khalsa flag and national flag at the pole where the PM hoists the Tricolour every Independence Day1.00-2.00 pm: Another group reaches ITO crossing; clashes break out between police and farmers; buses, police vehicles smashed by the mob; a farmer dies after his tractor turns turtle as it rams into a barricade3.00 pm-5.00 pm: Farmers staged a sit-in protest demanding justice, martyr status, apology from Delhi Police for the farmer’s death4 pm: Farmers removed from Red Fort4.30 pm: Home minister Amit Shah reviews situation with home secretary & Delhi Police 6.30 pm: Farmers disperse from ITO7.30 pm: Samyukta Kisan Morcha calls off march

  • Of tractors and detractors: BJP top brass silent on rally that turned unruly

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  The government and the BJP were guarded on the turn of events during the tractor rally. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda refrained from making public comments till late on Tuesday. 

    It was learnt that Shah was being briefed about the situation by senior officials. There were only a few voices from the BJP against the Red Fort incident, where a protestor raised a Nishad Sahib flag amid skirmishes with police personnel. The silence of senior leaders and top ministers was a departure from the past, when they aired their views on various issues on social media.

    Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, Prahlad Patel was among the few to speak out. “Red Fort is the symbol of our democracy. The protestors should have stayed away from Red Fort. I condemn the violation of the sanctity of Red Fort. This is sad and unfortunate,” he tweeted. Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal were among other prominent names silent.

    Former BJP vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe blamed the Congress, saying that they irresponsibly supported the farmers. “Populism is a phenomenon exploited to the hilt by the Congress and its allies at the cost of the nation,” tweeted Sahasrabuddhe.BJP’s former general-secretary P Muralidhar Rao also took to Twitter to criticise the Red Fort incident.

    “In Indian democracy you can have a mobilisation challenging the government on policies… but you can’t have a situation where it’s challenging the sovereignty of the country.” RSS general-secretary Suresh Joshi condemned the incidents, saying it’s an insult to martyrs who sacrificed their lives for independence and sovereignty of the country. 

  • Tractor parade: Deceased farmer was in Australia, returned 2 yrs ago

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: The farmer who died after his speeding tractor overturned near the ITO junction in central Delhi during a tractor  rally on Tuesday has been identified as Navreet Singh, a resident of Dibdiba village in Rampur district of western Uttar Pradesh. 

    Singh had gone to Delhi with a tractor to participate in the proposed tractor parade by the farmers against the Centre’s new farm laws. Sources said Singh, 45, had returned to India from Australia two years ago. The family is involved in farming.

    Despite repeated attempts to contact, his family remained incommunicado. “His body is being brought to Rampur by the district police team. The autopsy of the body will be done in Rampur,” said Rampur Additional Superintendent of Police Sansaar Singh.

    He added that police force was deployed in Dibdiba village in adequate numbers so that no anti-social elements could disrupt the peace in the area. He claimed that the police authorities were also in touch with the family. 

  • Tractor parade violence: Amit Shah orders police to go hard on violators 

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  Union Home Minister Amit Shah issued directions to the Delhi Police to take strict action against those who indulged in violence on Tuesday during the farmers’ tractor rally.  In a two-hour meeting with senior officials from the home ministry, Intelligence Bureau and Delhi Police, Shah reviewed in detail the security situation in the national capital after violence broke out at farmers’ rally in several areas

    At the meeting in his residence, Shah also ordered additional paramilitary forces were deployed in Delhi. Around 15 additional companies of paramilitary forces will be deployed at the sites of violence such as ITO, Nangloi and Ghazipur, sources said. The 15 companies of Central Armed Police Forces include five companies of CRPF already deployed on Monday.

    Shah also asserted that law and order is restored as soon as possible, sources said, adding that he sought a detailed account of how things went out of control on Tuesday. Wielding sticks, clubs and holding the Tricolour and union flags, tens of thousands of farmers atop tractors broke barriers, clashed with police and entered the city from various points marching towards the Red Fort and hoisting the Nishan Sahib flag there on Republic Day.

    Prior to this spate of violence, hundreds of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and UP, have been camping peacefully at several Delhi border points, including Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur, since November 28. They are seeking a complete repeal of the three central agriculture laws and a legal guarantee on minimum support price for their crops.

    Officials said the home minister is keeping a close eye on the developments and is monitoring the situation. Among those who attended the meeting were Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava and the Intelligence Bureau director.

    Punjab, haryana on high alertHaryana and Punjab have sounded a high alert in the states and said anyone taking law into one’s hands will be dealt with strictly. Haryana DGP Manoj Yadava asked district police chiefs to be vigilant. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh asked DGP Dinkar Gupta to ensure that law and order is not deteriorated at any cost.

    kids stranded for 2 hrs at fortAround 200 artistes, including children, who were part of the R-Day parade, were rescued after they got stranded near Red Fort on Tuesday. They were rescued by police personnel after being stuck for almost two hours in the afternoon, provided refreshments and subsequently escorted away.