Delhi Police give ‘in principle’ nod for R-Day tractor rally

Fareeha Iftikhar and Karn Pratap Singh

NEW DELHI: The police on Saturday gave an ‘in principle’ nod to farmers protesting at Delhi’s borders to carry out their proposed “tractor march” on Republic Day, covering a distance of around 100km within the national capital.

Delhi Police did not officially share details of conditions that were laid down for granting permission for the rally.

A police officer, privy to the meeting between police and farmers, said, “The approval was given in principle for now. The farmers will have to give a signed undertaking that they will not enter the New Delhi and central Delhi areas on Republic Day. The proposed routes will be in the vicinity of places where farmers are already protesting, but within the national capital. They will also have to give an undertaking that the rally will not disrupt Republic Day arrangements. We will speak to them again tomorrow.”

Police teams will escort the tractors on the day of the rally to maintain law and order.

In the undertaking, the farmers will have to share details of the number of tractors, timing of their rally, number of protesters and their day’s plan, among other details. Police will then verify the undertaking and issue a “written permission.”

According to farmer leaders, police have allowed them to enter the national capital from five different routes that will be decided by the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha — a group of several farmer organisations protesting against the three new farm laws across the country— by Sunday.

Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj Abhiyan said farmers will enter Delhi from all the existing protesting sites — Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur, Shahjahanpur, and

Palwal. “The farmers will enter the national capital on January 26 and take out a parade on Republic Day for the first time. It will be historic… There won’t be any fixed duration for the parade since all tractors coming from different parts of the country will participate in it,” he said.

Yadav said the farmers will cover a distance of over 100km in Delhi during the parade. “All farmers will return to their protest sites afterwards. There is no plan to stay in Delhi. We will take out a peaceful march. It will not have any effect on the Republic Day parade or security arrangements,” he said, adding that the Sanyunk Kisan Morcha will finalise the route and make it public on Sunday.

Another farmer leader, Rajinder Singh Bir Singh Wala, said there won’t be any cap on the number of tractors entering Delhi on Tuesday. “We have asked the farmers to prepare tableaux on their tractors and trolleys but their height should not be too much, for safety purposes. All tractors, including those already there at the borders and those coming from different parts of the country, will participate,” he said.

But president of Krantikari Kisan Union, Darshan Pal, said the march may continue for two days. “The number of tractors participating in the march is huge. It will take time to finish the march. It might take two days to complete it,” he said.

On Saturday, the protesting farmers said they had increased security at protest sites, a day after a man, after being caught by farmers at Singhu border, alleged that efforts were being made to incite violence. At the Singhu border, volunteers were seen checking bags and packets of visitors near the main gate area. On Saturday, volunteers at Tikri border were seen asking protesters to remain vigilant.