Farm agitation swells after surge in Jatland

Mahapanchayat vows support after visuals of tearful farm leader Tikait stir emotions in western UP; crowds bulge at protest sites

NEW DELHI/MEERUT: Thousands of farmers poured into Ghazipur on the eastern fringes of Delhi on Friday after an emotional appeal for support by farm leader Rakesh Tikait, indicating that the government crackdown on the two-month-old agitation following violence on Republic Day may have partially backfired.

Farmers from 10 districts in western UP, a stronghold of the influential Jat community, congregated at a massive gathering in Muzaffarnagar, where they announced the social boycott of anyone not backing the movement. In Haryana, khaps, or clan-based bodies, vowed to send at least one person from each family to bolster the ongoing stir against three agriculture laws passed in September.

Throughout the night, cultivators took tractors, trucks and motorbikes to reach the Delhi border, where numbers swelled and morale mounted with the arrival of a new contingent of protesters determined to defend the honour of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Tikait.

While just about a thousand