Will not enter Delhi, say farmers as police prepare for chakka jam
Home minister Amit Shah met NSA Ajit Doval to review the security situation in Delhi ahead of the farmers’ highway blockade on Feb 6
their respective venues.
“Farmers will block the highways in their respective states and no attempt will be made to enter Delhi. In case anyone gets stuck during the chakka jam, they will be served water and food by the farmers. We will also explain to them the reason behind our protest and what the government is doing with us,” Bharatiya Kisan Union’s national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said at the Ghazipur border.
During this chakka jam – the first big event by the agitators after the Republic Day tractor rally went out of control and protesters ran riot on Delhi’s streets – farmer leaders assured that they will not stop ambulances and fire brigades.
“We would like to request the people to cooperate with farmers on February 6, just for three hours, and let’s do our protest peacefully,” said Manjeet Singh Rai, president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Doaba).
“We are already sitting on a highway and we will continue doing so. We need people to participate in the chakka jam in different parts of the country. We are urging people to stay back at their places and support us from there,” said farmer leader Jagtar Singh Bajwa.
Rai said that to strengthen their numbers, announcements were made in villages in Punjab that ₹1,500 will be collected as a fine from people who didn’t visit Delhi borders. “This announcement is having an impact now as many farmers have come from those villages in Punjab from where not a single participation was made .... We don’t want our agitation to die in the absence of protesters,” said Rai.
Farmers at the Tikri border also said that they will avoid getting into confrontation. “Only anti-social elements resorted to violence on Republic Day. For the past two months, farmers had been protesting peacefully and the same will continue on February 6,” said Bijender Pal, a farmer from Mansa in Punjab.
Across Punjab and Haryana, farmers held meetings. Response was enthusiastic in Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar as local people thronged toll plazas. “This agitation is at its peak and we need your support to win it,” said Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni) president Gurnam Singh Charuni in Kurukshetra district.
In Delhi, police officers said that their security arrangements, deployment of security personnel and closure of the three borders will continue. The protest sites have turned into fortresses with police digging trenches, putting up barbed wire fences, concrete barricades and hammering beds of nails on roads.
A senior police officer, who did not want to be named, said intelligence inputs were being received that farmers may try to enter Delhi from several borders for the chakka jam and stopping them may lead to confrontation.
“Whenever there is a call for any such event (nationwide chakka jam), Delhi Police always make security arrangements to maintain law and order and avoid inconvenience to the public,” said Delhi Police spokesperson Chinmoy Biswal.
In Haryana, officials said they were making arrangements. “We are holding talks with farmers and urging them not to block Delhi-chandigarh,” said Karnal deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav.