Swaraj India leader and political activist Yogendra Yadav was detained by the Haryana Police near the Delhi-Jaipur highway on Thursday, 26 November, as he sought to join the farmers heading to Delhi to protest against the government’s farm laws and other policies.
Amid tight security on Thursday, over two lakh farmers and members of trade unions from Punjab, Kerala, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana have called for ‘Delhi Chalo’, a two-day march, to protest against three contentious farm laws passed by the Centre in September.
Yadav, along with other members of the Jai Kisan Andolan as well as several farmers, was detained by the police allegedly for ‘breach of the peace’ (you can see him questioning this claim of the police in the video below), even as farmers from Punjab pushed past police barricades to enter Haryana at Shambhu.
Yadav has been a staunch opponent of the Centre’s farm laws that were passed earlier this year, and supported the protests by the farmers, including the ‘Dilli Chalo’ march. He also slammed the Haryana Police and government for their attempts to block protesters on Wednesday, 25 November, including through the use of water cannons.
As a preventive step, the Haryana government sealed all its major entry points along the Punjab border and imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to arrest anyone assembling for the protests.
The Delhi government has denied permission for any rallies, and massive security arrangements have been made at the Delhi-Haryana border. Protesters at Jantar Mantar, including AIKSCC leaders were being detained by the Delhi Police on Thursday, according to reports.
On Thursday, Yadav slammed Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala and demanded his resignation, noting to NDTV that just a few days ago Chautala had organised a rally with no social distancing or masks – which meant the justifications raised by the state government to block the protests regarding the coronavirus pandemic – were an eyewash.
Yadav and the others detained along with him have been taken by the Gurugram police to an as-yet undisclosed location.
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