Farmers reject cops’ request to call off Parliament march

THE POLICE HAVE ASKED THE DMRC TO CLOSE SEVEN METRO STATIONS, IF NEEDED, TILL PARLIAMENT’S MONSOON SESSION IS OVER

NEW DELHI: A Delhi Police delegation on Sunday met farmer leaders at Singhu border and asked them to reconsider their proposed July 22 march to Parliament, as all public gatherings are banned in Delhi under the Delhi Disaster Management Authority’s (DDMA’S) Covid-19 guidelines, senior police officers privy to the development said.

The police have also asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to close Janpath, Lok Kalyan Marg, Patel Chowk, Rajiv Chowk, Central Secretariat, Mandi House and Udyog Bhawan from Monday (July 19) onwards, if needed, till Parliament’s monsoon session is over, to prevent protesters from reaching Parliament.

The Samkyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) – an umbrella body of more than 40 farmer groups – has given a call for protesting farmers to gather near the Parliament Complex for the duration of the monsoon session.

“We requested the farm leaders to reconsider their proposed protest at Parliament. They told us that theirs will be a peaceful protest...,” a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity.

Emphasising that they don’t plan to gherao or forcibly enter Parliament, farmer leaders described it as a “constructive meeting”.

Swaraj India chief Yogendra Yadav said, “We told them that SKM would issue ID cards to 200 protesters who will be reaching the permissible limit from Parliament to carry out a protest… our objective is not to disrupt the session.”