‘Rehearsal for 26 Jan’: Show of Strength at Farmers’ Tractor Rally
The rallies at four borders of Delhi come just a day ahead of farmers’ talks with the Centre on 8 January.
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Farmers protesting the three contentious farm laws held tractor rallies on Thursday, 7 January, at four borders of Delhi, including the Eastern and the Western Peripheral Expressways.
The rallies that were held on four routes, Tikri to Kundli, Tikri to Singhu, Ghazipur to Palwal and Rewasan to Palwal, were a “rehearsal for the 26 January parade,” the farmers said.
The rallies come just a day ahead of the talks with the Centre scheduled for Friday, 8 January.
Asked if they had made plans till 2024 keeping the next Lok Sabha elections in view, Tikait replied: “No. What have we to do with Lok Sabha elections?”
Tikait said that all the meetings that have taken place with the government were devoid of any substance.
Kulwant Sandhu, General Secretary of Jamhoori Kisan Sabha, said that the farmers won’t be getting tired anytime soon.
“This is like a smaller rehearsal parade being conducted before the big parade. The rehearsal itself has turned out to be five times bigger than what we had anticipated,” Sandhu said.
‘Nobody Misleading Us’: Female Farmers, Army Veterans Join Rally
Reacting to claims of having been misled, Babli Singh, a woman farmer from Hapur, said: “You tell me, who is misleading us? No Opposition leader is standing here with us. We are all farmers, and we are marching. We are fighting our own fight.”
“This is a trial run for the 26 January rally. We want to show the government how our elders and brothers will participate in the 26 January parade,” she said.
Subedar (Retd) Gurchand Singh, an Army veteran participating in the rally, said that the laws are a death warrant for farmers.
Show of Strength
Bharati Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) Chief Joginder Singh Ugrahan, ahead of the rally, had told NDTV that over 3,500 tractors and trolleys were expected to participate.
Haryana DGP Manoj Yadav had earlier told The Indian Express that they had granted permission to farmers to carry out the tractor rally ‘in principle’.
As reported by The Indian Express, police officers had claimed that the rally will impact the movement of normal traffic on the expressway.
The Delhi Traffic Police also tweeted updates on diverted traffic routes. The Singhu, Auchandi, Piau Maniyari, Saboli and Mangesh borders were shut for traffic.
Central armed police forces personnel, along with Haryana Police personnel armed with water cannons and other such equipment, were reportedly deployed to maintain law and order.
Even after seven rounds of talks between the Centre and farm unions, there seems to be no agreement on the three farm laws that have sparked protests across the country.
The latest meeting between the farm unions and the Centre, represented by Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash on 4 January, ended on an inconclusive note.
(With inputs from The Indian Express, NDTV and ANI.)
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