Farm protesters close in on Delhi as police put up war-like fortifications

The heavy security arrangement appeared to be an action replay of the government’s response to the yearlong agitation by the farmers in 2020-21 against the now-repealed farm laws

A worker lays down concertina wire spools on NH44 near the Singhu border in Sonipat district on Monday to thwart the farmers’ Delhi Chalo march: PTI picture.

TT, New Delhi, 13.02.24 : Farmers of Punjab on Monday set out for the "Dilli Chalo" protest with their tractor-trolleys, undeterred by the war-like fortifications put up by the police en route to prevent them from proceeding towards the national capital.

The heavy security arrangement appeared to be an action replay of the government’s response to the yearlong agitation by the farmers in 2020-21 against the now-repealed farm laws.

Along with the mobilisation and onward movement towards Delhi, the farmers awaited word from Chandigarh on the discussions their leaders were having with a central team of ministers on their demands. The demands include a law guaranteeing minimum support prices (MSPs) for all crops, fixing crop prices by the Swaminathan Commission formula, removal of junior home minister Ajay Mishra Teni for his son’s alleged involvement in mowing down farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri in October 2021, increasing the number of work days under the MGNREGA to 200, and withdrawal of the cases filed against farmers during the yearlong agitation.

Late on Monday night, several participating farmers' unions alleged that their X accounts had been withheld in India.

Security personnel stand guard near Singhu Border ahead of the scheduled 'Delhi Chalo' march by the protesting farmers.: PTI picture

The heavy barricading appeared to have added another irritant to the talks as the farmer leaders objected to such a heavy-handed response by the government to their call for protest.

The use of concrete blocks, concertina wire and iron nails to stall the movement of the tractors has brought the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and its splinter group SKM (non-political) on the same page in favour of the farmers’ right to protest.

The SKM, the collective that had spearheaded the yearlong agitation, had split after several constituents walked out to form the SKM (non-political).

Clarifying that it had nothing to do with the “Dilli Chalo” mobilisation, called by the SKM (non-political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha — the SKM in a statement said everyone had a right to protest and “it is the responsibility of the Union government to treat such protests in a democratic manner instead of adhering to excessive state repression".

Farmers eat food in their trolley ahead of their scheduled march towards Delhi, in Fatehgarh Sahib, on Monday: PTI picture

While road routes from Punjab to Delhi via Haryana were barricaded with heavy deployment of forces, a group of farmers who were travelling from the southern parts of India in response to the call were stopped in Bhopal.

As always, the farmers from Punjab are coming prepared with excavators and cranes to remove the barricades. The police in Haryana and Chandigarh have invoked prohibitory orders but that did not stop the Punjab farmers from converging at Fatehgarh Sahib to move towards Delhi if the meeting with the central delegation did not produce the desired outcome. The all-too-familiar langars (community kitchens) were up and running as they waited for word from Chandigarh.

The maximum mobilisation was from Punjab followed by Haryana. As with the yearlong agitation, western Uttar Pradesh was lukewarm to the protest call. In 2020, farmers from western Uttar Pradesh had responded only when the state unleashed its force on the farming community from Punjab and Haryana at the Singhu border.

Rakesh Tikait of the Bharatiya Kisan Union is with the main SKM group. His brother Naresh Tikait appears to be making his way back to the BJP. He attended a Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra event of the Centre, organised by Union minister of state for animal husbandry Sanjeev Baliyan in Sisauli, Muzaffarnagar, last month.

He, however, maintained that he had participated in it because it was a government programme and not a party event.