BKU-LOK Shakti calls off protest
NOIDA: The Bharatiya Kisan Union’s (BKU) Lok Shakti faction on Thursday called off their protest, being held at the Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida’s Sector 95, after a police team met with them the night before and informed that they do not have permission to continue the protest.
Farmer leaders said that they are ending the movement as the protest has lost direction. Farmers had been camping there since December 4, 2020.
The BKU-LOK Shakti had called media persons for a press conference on Thursday at 11am at the spot.
However, since the morning, the premise was surrounded by Noida police and the Uttar Pradesh Police’s Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel who had been requisitioned from Meerut, while there were no farmers, no tents and no tractors.
Members of the BKU-LOK Shakti faction later informed the media that they had not been permitted to organise the press conference inside the Sthal.
BKU-LOK Shakti president Shyoraj Singh and a few other office bearers then gathered at the Film City gate opposite the Sthal, and interacted with media persons. He said that at 12.10am on Thursday, senior officials of the Noida Police visited the Sthal and informed them about the “effect of farmers’ violent protests in Delhi”.
“The police officers informed us that we do not have permission to continue the protest. They asked us to end the protest. We discussed the issue among our committee members and decided to call it off,” Singh said.
Singh added that the BKU-LOK Shakti members had been peacefully protesting at the Sthal for two months.
“Our tractor rally on Republic Day was peaceful. However, some anti-social elements created a ruckus in Delhi and also hoisted a religious flag at the Red Fort. BKU-LOK Shakti condemns this incident and demands stringent action against the people involved. Since the protest turned violent in Delhi and lost its direction, we have ended it,” the Lok Shakti leader said.
The Lok Shakti chief said that his union members will discuss the issue and plan their next move accordingly.
By early Thursday, farmers had loaded their belongings on tractors and cars and left.
In the afternoon, a delegation of BKU-LOK Shakti met union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar in Delhi in presence of Gautam Budh Nagar MP Mahesh Sharma.
S K Giri, BKU-LOK Shakti spokesperson, said that the farmers submitted a memorandum with four demands – the farm laws should be implemented after only after suitable amendments; BKU-LOK Shakti members should be included in the committee for amendment of farm laws; law on maximum support price should be made; and farmers who had no role in the violence on Republic Day should not be harassed.
In the last two months, members of the BKU-LOK Shakti members had demonstrated multiple times on the Film City road outside the Sthal, besides trying to march via the DND Flyway and Kalindi Kunj over their demands to get the three new farm laws taken back.
Kumar Ranvijay Singh, additional DCP, Noida, confirmed that a police team had visited the Sthal on Wednesday night and spoken to the farmers to end the protest as the BKU’S Bhanu faction had already withdrawn from their protest at the Chilla border. “The farmers agreed, ended their protest and vacated the site. They made the call on their own to leave the premises at night, and to hold the press conference at Film City. Now, there is no farmer protest in the Noida area. Police personnel have been deployed at the Sthal for safety purposes,” he said.
The Bku-bhanu faction had ended their protest at Chilla border on Wednesday at 9.15pm, and cleared the Noida-delhi link road which had been closed since December 1.