From farm to fist: As most went off track, some groups stuck to agreed plan

Baldev Singh, a member of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Dakaunda), said they marched on the agreed upon route because they wanted the protests to remain peaceful.

While large groups of farmers deviated from the routes for which they had permission to carry out their protest, several farmer groups — under the banner of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) — carried out the tractor parade on permissible routes and later in the evening, called off the tractor parade and sent out an appeal to farmers to return to the protest sites to continue with their peaceful agitation.

SKM, an umbrella collective of over 40 farmer groups, called off the tractor parade on Tuesday evening.(Arvind Yadav/ Hindustan Times)

SKM, an umbrella collective of over 40 farmer groups, called off the tractor parade on Tuesday evening. “Samyukt Kisan Morcha has called off the Kisan Republic Day Parade with immediate effect, and has appealed to all participants to immediately return to their protest sites,” the group said in a statement adding that the protest will continue peacefully.

Baldev Singh, a member of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Dakaunda), said they marched on the agreed upon route because they wanted the protests to remain peaceful. “Hundreds of farmers were marching with us on the decided route because we wanted to keep our word and let the protests remain peaceful. We learnt only after some time that protesters had taken other routes. We were walking and tried our best to ensure there was no violence but there were some miscreants who did not listen,” he said.