FARMERS PROTEST
case the protesting farmers make it that far.
In the afternoon, Punjab protesters who had entered Haryana from other border points too were travelling towards Delhi.
Large groups of farmers from Haryana itself were also on the move.
“It is condemnable that Haryana Police is using such measures to suppress an assembly of peaceful protesters. We are protesting in a peaceful manner, but they want to prevent us from using our democratic right to protest,” a Punjab farmer at Shambhu said.
The Haryana Police had placed boulders, barricades and parked trucks at multiple border points with Punjab, the Congress-ruled state which is backing the farmers’ cause. But most barricades were lifted a few hours later.
Apart from Shambhu, police used water cannons against protesters trying to enter Kaithal district, and at Khanauri border where farmers are protesting under the banner of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugarhan).
Union president Joginder Singh said they will hold a peaceful protest there for seven days.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal condemned the Haryana Police action at Shambhu border.
“We want the three bills to be repealed in toto,” Yogendra Yadav, a member of the coordination committee told a virtual press conference. “We don’t subscribe to the view that” they are going to boost earnings of farmers, he said.
The Delhi Police on Wednesday said it has denied permission to farmer organisations which wanted to protest in the national capital on November 26 and 27.
Dozens of farmers’ leaders were detained in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. However, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha and the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee said in a joint statement that about 100 leaders representing farmers have been arrested in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Earlier in the day, there were some demonstrations at Delhi’s border with Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, and traffic jams at the Gurugram border.
Haryana has sealed its borders with Punjab to prevent farmers from entering their state on their way to Delhi.
Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC have been imposed in several parts of Haryana to prevent assembly of protesters.
Punjab farmers, representing over 30 farm bodies, had announced they will go to Delhi through several routes -- Lalru, Shambhu, Patiala-Pehowa, Patran-Khanauri, Moonak-Tohana, Ratia-Fatehabad and TalwandiSirsa.
Farmer bodies said they will hold a dharna wherever they are stopped from moving towards the national capital.
BKU (Ekta-Ugarhan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan has said around 25,000 women will participate in the protest march and over 4,000 tractor-trailers have been arranged for it.
The organisation claimed that over 200,000 farmers associated with it will enter Haryana through Khanauri and Dabwali.
The farmers are demanding the repeal of the new farm laws which deregulate the sale of agriculture produce. They say the laws will lead to the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system.