Protesting farmers allege brutality and provocation by police - 'Peasants didn’t intend to indulge in violence'

Protesting farmers take part in the tractor rally in New Delhi on Republic Day on Tuesday: PTI

Sanjay K. Jha   |   TT   |   New Delhi   |    27.01.21: The farmers who took part in the tractor rally on Republic Day alleged provocation and brutality by police and made it clear that the peasants didn’t intend to indulge in violence.

They alleged that the police had planned badly, allowing some tractors to pass and then stopping others at several points, creating confusion and anger.

A group of agitated farmers from Uttarakhand who had moved towards central Delhi, an unsanctioned route, said they had only followed the tractors in front that had demolished barricades and moved on.

A farmer throws back a teargas shell towards security men during clashes after the tractor rally turned violent in New Delhi on Tuesday: PTI

They said they were clueless about where to go and unintentionally went with the tide but figured out on the way that none of the farmers had planned violence although some younger participants were keen to register their presence in central Delhi. “Whatever violence happened was because of the police lathicharge and attempts to push us back,” Gurmeet Singh, the oldest of the lot, said.

Ashish Mittal, general secretary of the All India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha, told The Telegraph after returning to the Ghazipur camp in the evening: “Why were the police determined to ensure that the farmers do not enter Delhi? There was no consultation with the majority of the unions while deciding the route, which largely remained on the outskirts of Delhi. This was a huge disrespect to the farmers who had promised not to disturb the official Republic Day Parade. Does the national capital not belong to farmers? Are corporate people ever stopped from coming to Delhi?”

Security personnel baton charge a protester during clashes after farmers tractor rally turned violent : PTI

Asked about the abnormally high number of people and tractors seeking to enter Delhi on Republic Day, which could have created law-and-order problems, Mittal said: “Shouldn’t the nation know an abnormally high number of people are distressed by these laws and the tractors have come to Delhi’s borders from remote corners of India?

“Those who feel outraged today couldn’t feel the pain of these people who have been protesting for months, sitting on the roads for 60 days? Has the Prime Minister uttered a word on the death of 162 farmers so far?”

Security personnel use teargas shells to disperse farmers during clashes after their tractor rally turned violent: PTI

The farmer leader also contested allegations of violence, saying: “If the farmers had any ulterior motive, why did they return after the rally? Clearing up barricades is violence and firing tear gas canisters and resorting to a lathicharge is not?

“We saw the police breaking glasses of cars and buses themselves. They threw barricades on farmers who had fallen. While two farmers have died, several of us are injured. It is unthinkable that a government doesn’t allow farmers to enter Delhi for two months and when they want to register a symbolic protest inside Delhi on Republic Day, police force is unleashed to block them. The media abusing us for violence should introspect about the essence of democracy.”