Barricading stops MPs from meeting farmers at UP Gate

The multi-layered barricading at the UP Gate border once again came in for criticism as 15 members of parliament (MPs) from different political parties arrived to express solidarity with the protesting farmers

The multi-layered barricading at the UP Gate border once again came in for criticism as 15 members of parliament (MPs) from different political parties arrived to express solidarity with the protesting farmers. Unable to cross the barricading from Delhi, they returned without going to the site.

HT Image

The protesters said that if the leaders had resorted to a sit-in at the border, it would have created a lot of pressure on the Delhi Police to remove the barricades.

Among the MPs were Lok Sabha members former Union minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK’s) Kanimozhi and Trinamool Congress’s Saugata Roy. They said they were shocked at the magnitude of the barricading in place.

“It is for the first time in my life that I have seen such barricading that stops people meeting people in the national Capital. We have been trying to raise the issue of farmers in the Parliament for the last two days. We have seen such multi-layered barricading, almost a fortification, only at the Pakistan border. They (police) told us that it is closed and said that we cannot go. Are we anti-nationals or terrorists? Are these farmers anti-nationals or terrorists?” Badal told reporters on the Delhi side of UP-Gate border.

“It is also humanly impossible to cross it (the barricading). The DMK and our leader MK Stalin have been supporting the (farmers’) cause right from the beginning and we want the laws to be withdrawn. We just came here to say that we are with them,” said Kanimozhi.

Delhi Police barricaded the border with iron grilles, concertina wires and even big boulders to prevent anyone or any vehicle from breaking it. Earlier barricades were easily pushed aside by tractors and farmers in their march to Delhi.

Ever since it was put up last week, the nails on the ground to prevent tractors from going through came in for special criticism.

On Thursday morning, a group of workers were also seen removing the nails and it was speculated that the Delhi Police had decided to remove them. But that was not to be.

“These are just being repositioned. Position of arrangement at the border remains same,” said Deepak Yadav, DCP – East district of Delhi.

Delhi police commissioner SN Shrivastava on Tuesday had said, “I am surprised when tractors were used on January 26 and police were attacked and barricading was broken, no on raised questions. What we did? We have just strengthened the barricades so that they should not be broken time and again.”

On the other hand, the farmers at UP-Gate have also been voicing concerns over the barricading and said that it was causing affecting their supplies and people who wished to join them. They added that the barricading was also affecting local residents who now had to switch to other routes.

“We don’t know why such heavy barricading was put up in the first place. It also prevented MPs from visiting us. We feel that had the members staged a sit-in near the barricades, it would have created a lot of pressure on the Delhi Police,” said Jagtar Singh Bajwa, a farmer leader from Uttarakhand and member of UP-Gate farmers’ committee.

Pintu Biswal, a native of Ghazipur district in Uttar Pradesh, also echoed similar sentiments.

“I have been here for the past two months and have seen a number of politicians coming to support the farmers. But they come and go. No one sits here with us,” he said.

Prominent among those were Delhi’s deputy chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia, Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chaudhary, UP Congress committee president Ajay Kumar Lallu and senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Deepender Hooda, while many others have already spoken to Tikait over the phone and extended help and support.

The site also saw visits by Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Singh Chautala, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal and also Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut.

(With inputs from HTC, Delhi)