Farmers’ march sparks clashes on Delhi border
Dozens injured as tear gas, water cannons used to stop protesters from entering city
NEW DELHI/GHAZIABAD: Police on Tuesday fired water cannons and lobbed tear gas shells to halt a march by tens of thousands of farmers attempting to enter the national capital from Uttar Pradesh to seek better prices and concessions, the latest outpouring of agrarian anger that threatened to snowball following the day’s clashes.
At least a dozen farmers and eight policemen were hurt in the melee that took place shortly after 1am at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, where officials put up layers of metal and concrete barriers — snapping the main road link to Delhi’s key satellite town of Ghaziabad.
Within hours, the Union government offered to work on some of those demands, but the assurances were rejected. “We are not satisfied with the government’s assurances… The government disrupted our protest at Kisan Ghat. We will continue agitation at UP Gate if our demands are not met,” said Naresh Tikait, chief of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU).
A second BKU member, spokesperson Rakesh Tikait, suggested the protesters will make another attempt at entering Delhi on Wednesday.
“After we met ministers in Delhi, the Centre gave us assurance only on four-five of our demands. This is not acceptable and we have decided to continue our protest. Tomorrow we will move to Kisan Ghat and Raj Ghat,” he said.
BKU is leading the protest that began from Haridwar a week ago, and its leaders met junior agriculture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. Estimates put the number of attendees at 30,000. Their demands include waiver of loans, cut in fuel prices, and higher minimum support prices for their produce.
The march forced a near-complete blockade of the DelhiMeerut expressway since late Monday, triggering mile-long jams. With offices set to reopen on Wednesday after a public holiday, the traffic detours due to the blockade is likely to severely hit large parts of East Delhi and Noida.
The rush is also likely to spill over to the Metro, which is now the main link between Delhi and localities on the other side of the Uttar Pradesh border.
Prior to the meeting with BKU, Union home minister Rajnath Singh met Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh to discuss the farmers’ issues.
According to an official aware of the developments, home minister Singh led the parleys. “The farmers are from Uttar Pradesh, and Singh knows them well. He has handled similar crises in the past and government leaders wanted him to deal with the current situation,” said this official, asking not to be named.
The government eventually offered to work on seven out of 15 demands, but ruled out a farm loan waiver at this point since that could only be dealt by the state. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath defended his government’s initiatives for farmers and suggested that the protests were motivated.