Leaders of around 32 farmer unions observed a day-long hunger strike at Delhi’s Singhu border on Monday to protest against the Centre’s new farm reforms. The unions claimed that demonstrations were also held at various district headquarters across the country. The hunger strike began at 8 am and ended at 5 pm even as talks with the government remained inconclusive.
The unions said more people are expected to join the ongoing agitation, which entered the third week. United Farmers’ Front said leaders also observed a two minute-silence over the alleged deaths of over 20 protesters at Delhi borders in last 18 days.
As protests continued, yet another delegation of farmers, led by All India Kisan Coordination Committee (AIKCC), met agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar to extend their support to the legislations. This is a fourth group of farmers to have extended their support to the laws in the past two weeks, news agency PTI reported. Led by its general secretary Gunavath Patil Hangergekar, the AIKCC, which has presence in 28 states, submitted a representation to the minister seeking continuation of the three farm laws, with some amendments. The previous groups were from Haryana and Uttarakhand.
“We got to see the light of these laws after many years of struggle. We are aware that farmers protesting at Delhi borders are misled by some forces. We don’t want such forces to take away the freedom the laws aim to give to farmers across the country,” Patil said.
Tomar said the government is engaging with farmer leaders to decide on the next date of talks. “The meeting will definitely happen. We are engaging with farmers,” Tomar told PTI. “The government is ready for discussion anytime. The farmer leaders have to decide and convey when they are ready for the next meeting,” he added.
Tomar is leading the negotiations with 40 farmer unions, along with food minister Piyush Goyal and MoS for commerce and industries Som Prakash. Previous five rounds of talks between the Centre and 40 farmer unions’ leaders have remained inconclusive.
The government has sent a draft proposal along with written assurance of continuing the minimum support price (MSP) system to them for consideration, but farmer unions have rejected it and demanded repeal of the laws. These laws are meant for transforming the lives of farmers, Tomar said, adding that the government policy and its intention behind these laws are clear.
‘New Laws Will Lead to Inflation’
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, meanwhile, joined AAP leaders, MLAs and volunteers at the party office to observe fast in support of protesting farmers and said the three agri-marketing laws will lead to “immense inflation and just favour a few capitalists”, as he termed the legislations “anti-farmer and anti-common man”.
“I appeal to parties to stop playing dirty politics over farmers’ issue. These laws are anti-farmers and anti-aam aadmi and are aimed to benefit a few capitalists. These laws will lead to immense inflation through hoarding,” Kejriwal said.
Protests in Punjab, Haryana
Shiv Kumar Kakka, one of the farmer leaders who observed the hunger strike, said the main purpose of the fast was to draw the attention of the government towards their issue. “We wanted to send out a strong message to the government that it is not just an agitation by Punjab farmers but also an agitation of farmers from across the nation. We have got support from across the nation. But because trains are not operating, farmers are not able to come or those coming are being stopped,” he said.
In Punjab and Haryana, farmers raised slogans outside the offices of district commissioners and took out protest marches. The Haryana Police closed the Ambala-Patiala highway after protesters gathered at the Shambhu border point with adjoining Punjab. Hundreds of farmers have stayed put at the Haryana-Rajasthan border as they were stopped from moving towards the national capital.
“Tens of thousands of farmers are moving towards Delhi from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and other states and the numbers of protesting farmers at Delhi borders are swelling,” a farmer leader claimed. Several borders of the national capital remained closed on Monday due to the ongoing protest by farmers against the Centre’s new agri laws.
Traffic Woes
The Delhi Traffic Police took to Twitter to inform people about road closures and advised them to take alternative routes to avoid inconvenience. Farmers from different states have been camping at Delhi’s Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur border points for over two weeks to demand repeal of the farm laws enacted in September.
In a series of tweets, the Delhi Traffic Police said, “Singhu, Auchandi, Piau Maniyari, Sabholi & Mangesh borders are closed. Please take alternate routes via Lampur, Safiabad & Singhu school toll tax borders. Traffic has been diverted from Mukarba & GTK road. Pl avoid Outer Ring Rd, GTK road, NH-44”.
“Gazipur border is closed for traffic coming from Gaziabad to Delhi due to farmers protests. People are advised to take alternate route for coming to Delhi via Anand Vihar, DND, Chilla, Apsara & Bhopra borders,” it tweeted. Multi-layered cemented barriers, additional police force and barbed wires formed the first layer of security at the protest site at Singhu border. The second layer of barricades deployed by the Delhi Police is being guarded by a team of Rapid Action Force along with personnel from the paramilitary forces.
Busting Fake News
Meanwhile, an IT professional from Punjab’s Ludhiana, who came to India from Sydney in October, is running a Twitter campaign to take on those spreading “fake news and running vilification campaigns” against the ongoing farmers’ protest. The Twitter handle — Tractor2twitr — has garnered 2.5 million impressions from across the globe since November 28.
“I had come to India in October-end to attend to some personal work, but then this (farmers’ protest) happened and I stayed on,” Bhavjit Singh says. He said his idea was to disseminate authentic information about the protest as a “lot of people have been tweeting, running a vilification campaign against the movement”.
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