Hundreds of tractors from Punjab head to Capital
AMRITSAR/SANGRUR: Hundreds of tractors and other vehicles left Tarn Taran district’s Harike Pattan town and Dhuri in Sangrur on Wednesday for the Singhu and Tikri borders six days ahead of the farmers’ scheduled Republic Day march in the national capital in protest against the three contentious agriculture laws.
Thousands of farmers, women, children and the elderly who formed a 2-km-long procession at Harike Pattan, are likely to reach the Delhi border on Thursday evening. Most of the participants were from Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Kapurthala, Moga and Ferozepur districts. These farmers will stay at the Delhi border for the next 20 days, union leaders added.
It is the fifth jatha (group) under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC), which has a stronghold in Majha and some districts of Malwa region, that left for Delhi to take part in the protests.
Also, nearly 80 tractors marched to the Tikri border from Bhullar Heri village near Dhuri. Besides, farmers under the banner of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) held tractor marches in Lehragaga block of Sangrur and over a dozen villages of Barnala district in view of the Republic
Day protest.
KMSC leaders said that more tractors have been included in the procession this time considering the January 26 parade. “More tractors would reach the Singhu border before the Republic Day.
Committee’s Tarn Taran president Sukhwinder Singh Sabran said the procession will halt for night stay at Shahabad Markanda and then proceed for Singhu at 8am on Thursday. “It’s been more than two months since the farmers’ sit-in started at the Delhi borders but there is no decrease in enthusiasm among people. More than 10,000 are part of today’s procession and several more are eager to throng Delhi,” he said before embarking upon the journey.
Mehar Singh from Daliri village in Tarn Taran said, “We are even ready to spend a year at the Delhi border till these laws are repealed.”
Abhay starts tractor march from Tosham
ALSO, FARMERS HOLD LARGE TRACTOR RALLIES IN SANGRUR’S LEHRAGAGA AND MANY VILLAGES OF BARNALA DISTRICT IN VIEW OF THE JAN 26 PROTEST
Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) general secretary Abhay Singh Chautala started a tractor march from Tosham in Bhiwani on Wednesday, which will culminate at Rewari border.
Chautala said the Centre should take back the laws and apologise to the farmers who are sitting on dharnas across country in chilling weather for nearly two months. “Those who had taken farmers’ votes won’t be allowed to enter the villages. They can forget about winning a ward member’s election. I have shown my intent and am standing by the farmers,” he added.
Selja joins farmers’ agitation at Hisar
Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president Kumari Selja joined the farmers’ stir at Badopatti toll plaza in Hisar and expressed her solidarity with the farmers. Selja said farmers and labourers are forced to sit on streets in bitter cold against the “black laws” enacted by the Union government. “This is not a political movement as being portrayed by the BJP. It is people’s mass movement. Being a political party, Congress is performing its duty and fighting a battle,” she said. “Only some select friends of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will benefit from these laws.