Farmers mobilise at Capital’s borders
Clashes break out at Singhu border between a group of men claiming to be locals and farmers, policeman injured
NEW DELHI: Thousands of farmers protesting against the three agri laws mobilised to Delhi’s borders to give an impetus to the two-month-long agitation that appeared to be losing steam following the crackdown over the Republic Day violence
However, a tense situation prevailed at Singhu border in Delhi on Friday after clashes broke out between farmers and a large group of men claiming to be local residents who were demanding that the area be vacated, with both sides hurling stones at each other, after which the police restored to baton charge and firing tear gas to bring the situation under control.
Alipur station house officer Pradeep Paliwal was injured in the violence after a man attacked him with a sword, an official said, adding that some people were also wounded. The official said that police
detained the man who attacked the policeman.
The group claiming to be locals demanded that the farmers vacate the Singhu border, one of the main protest sites around the capital, alleging that they had “insulted” the national flag during their tractor parade on Republic Day.
On Thursday, a group of people who claimed to be locals from the nearby areas of Bawana had come to the border and asked the farmers to vacate the roads. The group had left then but warned that they would return again on Friday.On Friday, armed with sticks, the group reached the site and asked the farmers to leave while raising slogans against them. The protesters at the Singhu border, much of which is barred for entry from outside, came out in numbers to resist the locals.
However, they were promptly stopped by farmer union volunteers which helped the situation from turning ugly. “They are not locals, but hired goons. They were throwing stones, petrol bombs at us. They attempted to burn down our trolleys also. We are here to resist them. We won’t leave the place,” said Harkirat Mann Beniwal, 21, from Punjab’s Khana district.
At the Tikri border, too, the situation was tense after a group of about 50 persons tried to get near the spot where farmers are protesting. Unlike the Singhu border, police in Tikri managed to separate the group from the farmers.
Ravindra Kumar Chaudhary, a resident of Baba Haridas Colony at Tikri border, said, “For the last two months we have been tolerating whatever these protesters were doing on the pretext of agitation against farm laws. Whatever they did on January 26 is unacceptable. We will not tolerate the insult of our national flag.”
Meanwhile, more protesters began arriving at the Ghazipur border on Friday from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Delhi hours after Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait broke down during his address on Thursday and vowed not to leave the venue citing plans to arrest him.
The district administration had on Thursday issued an ultimatum to the protesting farmers to vacate the Ghazipur site as security forces dug trenches, put up barricades, and bolstered their numbers at the protest sites. Farmers, primarily from western Uttar Pradesh, have been sitting in Ghazipur for about two months.
“We could not stop ourselves when we saw Rakeshji’s video in which he was crying and saying he will not have water or food. Our group immediately fetched water and started our journey. We drove about 300km and reached... [the protest site] at 4 am [on Friday],” said Gagandeep Singh Guraya, a resident of Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib.
Ankit Chaudhary, another protester, said he rushed to the site with a 17-member group on a tractor from Muzaffarnagar after seeing Tikait’s video on social media. “We said enough is enough when we saw our leader in tears... he was in pain and trying to save the honour of farmers. We will now stay here and will also call up our other friends to the site.”
The number of people at the Ghazipur protest site had decreased to about 1,000-1,200 on Thursday as many people left the venue following the January 26 violence.
The heavy deployment of police was relaxed when three buses carrying the provincial armed constabulary personnel left the site around 2 am on Friday.The Kejriwal government also extended its support to the farmers with Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia visiting the Ghazipur border protest site to check the arrangements made for them by the city government. Talking to reporters, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said the farmers’ protest has full support of the Delhi government. Sisodia said Tikait had spoken to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and asked for basic amenities. “On the orders of the chief minister, the arrangements were made at night,” he said. Tikait was served a notice under section 133 of CrPC (conditional order for removal of the nuisance) for eviction from the site and he was also to be arrested. He remained defiant, saying there was no question of vacating Ghazipur and that police can do whatever they want. Tikait accused the government of trying to destroy farmers and warned if the three farm laws are not repealed, he will commit suicide. He broke down towards the end of his address to the protesters on Thursday.
In western Uttar Pradesh, all roads seemed led to Muzaffarnagar where tens of thousands of farmers gathered on Friday to attend a mahapanchayat in support of the BKU-led protest against the Centre’s new farm laws in Ghazipur on the DelhiUttar Pradesh border moved by Tikait’s appeal.
Anuj Baliyan, a resident of Soram village, said: “I have not seen such a self-driven and motivated crowed in my life. Roads of Muzaffarnagar were jammed with tractors and the entire ground was packed with people.”
Vice president of BKU (Bhanu) Chaudhary Diwakar Singh, who defied his leader Bhànu Pratap’s decision to withdraw his faction from the farm movement, said: “Name of organisations no more matter in this movement. Rajesh Tikait’s tears has turned it into a complete farmers’ movement irrespective of caste, creed, community or organisations.”
in Haryana, some of the major khap panchayats decided to send at least one person from each family to the protest sites in Delhi.