Tension at farm protest sites as forces build up
NEW DELHI/GHAZIABAD: Security forces dug trenches, put up barricades, and bolstered numbers at farmer protest sites on Delhi’s borders on Thursday, as tensions simmering since a violent Republic Day tractor rally threatened to boil over at Ghazipur on the eastern fringe of the Capital, where authorities issued an ultimatum to defiant cultivators, who refused to budge.
Cracks have started to appear in the 64-day-old protest, which has lost momentum after the deadly turn of events on January 26 when farmer groups broke through barricades, clashed violently with police, ran riot on the Capital’s streets, and stormed the Red Fort, hoisting the Nishan Sahib, the flag of the Sikhs, on its ramparts.
Thursday’s standoff began in the afternoon when Ghaziabad additional district magistrate (city) Shailendra Kumar Singh asked protesters at UP Gate to end their two-month-long stir and vacate the spot at the earliest, or face penal action.
The order came hours after protesters alleged that power and water supply to the site were cut off, and hundreds of policemen streamed into the site. Police also diverted traffic on arterial roads connecting Delhi to UP and Haryana, and closed several checkpoints, such as Auchandi and Piau.
“We served him (Rakesh Tikait) the notice under section 133 of CRPC (conditional order for removal of nuisance) for eviction from the site and he was also to be arrested later on. But he seems to have played a ploy and unexpected events unfolded in which he refused to leave the site,” said Singh.
But the farmers refused to move, with Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson Rakesh Tikait saying he may approach the Supreme Court.
“There is no question of vacating Ghazipur. Police can do whatever they want,” he said, as small groups of people shouted anti-farmer slogans. “The government wants to destroy farmers. If the farm laws are not repealed, Rakesh Tikait will commit suicide,” he told the agitators late evening, breaking down towards the end of the address.
As night fell, a large police contingent and protesting farmers were positioned on either side of the Delhi-meerut Expressway, and Tikait announced a hunger strike. With visuals of Tikait breaking down beamed on television, around 5,000 farmers gathered at his ancestral village of Sisauli, roughly 100km away, and threatened to march to UP Gate.
At the time of going to print, the standoff continued.
Farmers, primarily from western UP, have been sitting in Ghazipur for about two months. Tikait’s brother, Naresh Tikait, announced in Muzaffarnagar that the agitation will be withdrawn.