Punjab farmers on way to Delhi despite curbs

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Punjab farmers on way to Delhi despite curbs

Thursday, 26 November 2020 | Rajesh Kumar | New Delhi

Punjab farmers on way  to Delhi despite curbs

Haryana seals border, Delhi Police refuses permission to protest 

While the Delhi Police has refused permission and the Haryana Government sealed borders with Punjab, thousands of farmers from Haryana and Punjab started moving towards the national Capital on Wednesday for their “Delhi Chalo” march on November 26-27 against the agriculture legislations.

The farmers had major scuffles with the Haryana Police which failed to stop them despite heavy deployment of men and use of water cannons. A viral video showed that after crossing the barricades at Ambala, hundreds of farmers faced water cannons at Kurukshetra. The visuals showed massive jets of water being fired at a huge crowd on the highway barricaded by the police.

The scuffle between the farmers and the police broke out at the Shambhu border near Ambala city when the farmers broke the blockades and managed to proceed to Delhi for staging a demonstration.

Despite the use of water cannons, the protesting farmers, riding tractor-trailers, cars and motorcycles, managed to enter Haryana from Punjab. They were later joined by thousands of their counterparts from Haryana, led by Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) State chief Gurnam Singh Charuni.

Meanwhile, the Haryana Police set up barricades and deployed water cannons across the State. Massive security arrangements have been made at the Delhi-Haryana border at Gurugram. The build-up is the heaviest on the Haryana side. As a preventive step, neighbouring BJP-ruled Haryana has imposed Section 144 of the CrPC to prevent assembly of protesters. Also, the police had taken nearly 100 farmer leaders from the State into “preventive custody”.

However, there was no report of any violence or the use of teargas shells or batons. BKU Punjab president Balbir Singh Rajewal said Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has got the inter-State borders sealed for Punjab farmers to prove that “Punjab is not part of India”.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police on Wednesday said that they have refused permission to farmers’ organisations to protest in Delhi on Thursday and Friday and that any such gathering in the national Capital will attract legal action. According to northern railways, one train has been cancelled, seven trains short-terminated, four diverted in view of farmers’ agitation in Punjab.

In a series of tweets today, Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal registered his protest against excesses against the farmers. “By stopping Punjabi farmers from peacefully exercising democratic rights, the Centre is repeating 1980 when the Akalis were stopped from entering Delhi to protest. Painful history must not be forced to repeat itself,” his post read.

In another post, he condemned the actions of Haryana Government in “cutting Punjab off from the rest of the country”. “PMO must intervene to ensure that this is stopped immediately and the annadatas are not harassed and humiliated or stopped from reaching Delhi. Nation owes eternal debt to kisans and jawans,” a second post read.

According to BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan, nearly two lakh farmers under their banner will march towards Delhi through Khanauri and Dabwali areas. As per representatives of the AIKSCC, farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other States will move towards Delhi.

According to farmers’ leaders, hundreds of farmers from Punjab started gathering near the inter-State borders along Haryana on Wednesday morning. Restrictions have also been imposed at other inter-State border points with Punjab, including in Sirsa, Kurukshetra and Jind districts. Police have deployed additional force on Ambala-Rajpura Highway and Ambala- Chandigarh Highway and done multi-layer barricading on the highways.

The All-India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh and various other factions of the Bharatiya Kisan Union had called for ‘Delhi Chalo’ march, seeking the scrapping of the recently-enacted three farm laws by the Centre. The protesting farmers have threatened to block all roads to Delhi if they were denied permission to travel towards Delhi. The Delhi Police, however, has asked the farmers not to enter Delhi as they do not have permission to protest in the city.

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