No headway at police-farmer unions meet on Jan 26 rally

NEW DELHI: The second round of meeting between the police and farmer unions regarding the proposed January 26 tractor rally by them remained inconclusive on Thursday as the farmers stuck to their demand of taking out the rally on Delhi’s busy Outer Ring Road.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav said the police wanted the farmer leaders to take out their tractor rally outside the national capital. “We will do our parade peacefully inside Delhi. They wanted us to hold the tractor rally outside Delhi, which is not possible,” Yadav, who is actively participating in the ongoing agitation against the Centre’s new farm laws, said.

Sources said police officers tried to convince the protesting farm unions to hold their tractor rally on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway instead of the Outer Ring Road, but in vain. A farmer leader, who attended the meeting with the police, said, “The government wants us to take out our rally outside Delhi, but we want to hold it inside Delhi. No decision was taken in today’s meeting.” Joint Commissioner of Police (Northern Range) S S Yadav coordinated the meeting held at Mantram Resort near the Singhu border.

The meeting was also attended by Special Commissioner (Law and Order-Western Zone) Sanjay Singh, Special Commissioner of Police (Intelligence) Dependra Pathak and other senior officers from Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh police.

A similar meeting was held on Wednesday between the union leaders and officers of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana police at Vigyan Bhawan to discuss the route and arrangements of the proposed rally on January 26.

However, the farmer unions had rejected a suggestion by the police officers to hold the rally on the Kundli-ManesarPalwal Expressway instead of Delhi’s busy Outer Ring Road, sources said.

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, are protesting at several Delhi border points against the Centre’s new agriculture laws for nearly two months.

UNION LEADERS SAY THE POLICE WANTED THE PROTESTING FARMERS TO TAKE OUT THEIR TRACTOR RALLY OUTSIDE NATIONAL CAPITAL, WHICH WAS NOT POSSIBLE