E-Paper
Haryana Police seal Khanauri border, stop farmers from marching to Delhi
Foot march to Jantar Mantar planned against proposed India-US trade deal, to press for legal guarantee for MSP on all crops
The proposed 228-km ‘Kisan Bachao Padyatra’ by farmers associated with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) was halted at the Khanauri-Data Singhwala border on Sunday after Haryana authorities stopped a 51-member group from entering the state and sealed the interstate route.
The farmers, led by SKM (Non-Political) convener Jagjit Singh Dallewal, subsequently decided to continue their agitation from the Punjab side of the border rather than attempt to cross into Haryana.
The march was scheduled to begin from Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana border on August 16 and reach Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on August 29, where the farmers had planned to hold a farmers’ panchayat. The group had set out from a gurdwara at Khanauri under Dallewal’s leadership.
The farmers’ main demands include exclusion of agriculture, dairy, poultry and fisheries from any proposed India-US trade agreement, a legal guarantee for procurement of all crops at minimum support price (MSP) based on the Swaminathan Commission’s C2+50% formula, farm loan waiver, higher sugarcane fair and remunerative price (FRP) and withdrawal of cases registered against farmers during previous agitations. The SKM (Non-Political) has said it is particularly opposed to the proposed India-US agricultural trade agreement, apprehending that it could adversely affect farmers and the domestic agricultural sector.
Dallewal said the farmers had come prepared to remain on the road until August 28, but after being stopped by Haryana Police, they decided to stay at Khanauri and continue their protest peacefully.
“Our farmers will now sit here. We will not block the road or create any trouble. We are sitting on one side and our motive is not to trouble the public. The government should keep the roads open. If the road is closed, it will be done by the government, not by us,” Dallewal said.
The Haryana administration had made extensive security arrangements at the Data Singhwala-Khanauri border to prevent the farmers from entering the state and proceeding towards Delhi. Jind police sealed the route with several layers of barricading, including concrete blocks, iron barriers and welded barricades. Water cannons and riot-control vehicles were deployed near the Narwana canal bridge, while security forces remained stationed along the interstate boundary.
Jind superintendent of police Kuldeep Singh said the farmers would not be allowed to enter Haryana and proceed towards Delhi as they had not obtained permission for the proposed march.
Farmer leaders, however, alleged that the administration had taken measures beyond stopping the march. They claimed that police teams had searched the homes of farmer leaders at the block level and that some activists had been placed under house arrest. The leaders termed the action an attempt to suppress their democratic right to protest.
Dallewal said the farmers were willing to hold discussions with the government but insisted that the issues should be taken up with Union ministers or officials of the Union agriculture ministry.
He said the Haryana administration had suggested a meeting with chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, but the farmers did not consider such a meeting sufficient to resolve their demands.
“If the administration wants to hold a meeting with us, it should be with the Union ministers. Our issues can only be resolved there,” Dallewal said.
According to him, the farmers had deliberately kept the contingent small to avoid any law-and-order issue. The group initially comprised 51 farmers and was even willing to reduce the number to 41, but the administration insisted on talks with the Haryana government.
Khanauri again becomes protest centre
The developments have once again brought the Khanauri border into focus as a major farmers’ protest site. The location had emerged as one of the key centres of the previous farmers’ agitation that began on February 13, 2024. The protest at Khanauri continued for around 13 months before the sit-in site was cleared by Punjab Police in March 2025.
The death of farmer Shubhkaran Singh during the earlier agitation remains a significant issue for protesting farmers, and the farmer group’s decision to carry soil from the site of his death on Sunday underlined the continuing importance of the earlier protest in the current mobilisation.
