Farmers start dismantling tents in UP's Ghazipur, protest site to get cleared in 2 days

As farmers went about packing up belongings and other infrastructure that they had put up during the course of their yearlong protest on Delhi-Ghaziabad border, the SKM said all protest sites will be vacated by December 11.

With the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a coalition of 40 farmer unions that was leading the yearlong agitation against the now repealed farm laws, calling off the protest on Thursday, after the government accepted their demands, farmers at the UP-Gate site started dismantling tents while others raised slogans in victory and distributed sweets to those around to mark their happiness— they will finally get to go home victorious.

Farmers dismantle their tents at Ghazipur protest site after the agitation was called off near Ghaziabad on Thursday. (Sakib Ali/HT photo)

As farmers went about packing up belongings and other infrastructure that they had put up during the course of their yearlong protest on Delhi-Ghaziabad border, the SKM said all protest sites will be vacated by December 11. It will take about two days to clear the site at UP-Gate as it is currently spread over an area of a kilometre, the farmers said.

“This is a major milestone in the farmer’s protest movement — the government has accepted all our demands and we will now go home. We will start removing tents and other infrastructure and clear the area by December 12. On December 11, we will celebrate Vijay Diwas (Victory Day). We again apologise to commuters who faced hardships on NH-9 for such a long time,” said Jagtar Singh Bajwa, farmer leader from Uttarakhand and UP-Gate site spokesperson for SKM.

Farmers in their hundreds arrived at UP-Gate on November 28, 2020, under the banner of Tikait-led Bharatiya Kisan Union with an intention to march to Delhi in protest. But when they were stopped from entering Delhi by the police, little did know that the border-point — roughly, the area under the UP-Gate flyover— was going to be their home for the next one year.

A day later, farmers arrived en masse in cars, tractors and trucks from Uttarakhand and parts of Uttar Pradesh and occupied the nearby areas and set up their dais on National Highway 9.

There they stayed put — through the winter cold, the aggressive second wave of the pandemic, the heatwave, the downpour and the squalls; stoically bearing with the police barricades and deaths of fellow protesters —till on November 19, on the occasion of Guru Purab, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the three farm laws will be repealed, a promise that Parliament kept on the first day of the winter session.

Even then, farmers refused to move.They demanded a legal guarantee for the minimum support price (MSP) for crops, the withdrawal of cases registered against protesting farmers and compensation for the kin of farmers who died during the agitation. The government called them for talks and acceded to their demands, paving the way for the SKM to call off the protest on Thursday.

“We asked farmers not to hold any celebrations on December 10 as a mark of respect to soldiers, including chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat and 12 others, who died in a helicopter crash on Wednesday. On December 10, these soldiers will be cremated. So, there will be no celebrations,” Bajwa said.

The farmers at UP-Gate, numbering about 200-300 on Thursday, were glued to social media as the SKM took up the crucial meeting at Singhu Border in the afternoon. As news spread, there were chants of “Kisan Ekta Zindabad’ while some of the farmers started slowly dismantling tents.

“It is good that farmers will get to return home but it is a fact that the government accepted our demands only after a year. I have been at the site since the beginning of the agitation, which saw many ups and downs. Many of our brothers also lost lives during the agitation and that is very painful. The farmers braved adverse weather conditions but stayed together and saw the protest to its victory,” said Buta Singh, a farmer from Uttarakhand.

Pyara Singh, another farmer from Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, said it was a victory of farmers but it came at a heavy price. “Hundreds of our farmers lost their lives and that could have been avoided had the government paid us heed. If the government had to accept our demands, it could have done so much earlier. The development has given hope that we will get a better price for our crop,” he added.

The SKM in a statement said, “Current agitation stands suspended. Battle has been won and the war to ensure farmers’ rights, especially to secure minimum support price as a legal entitlement for all farmers, will continue. Considering that the nation is mourning the demise of CDS General Bipin Rawat and his associates, SKM has decided to postpone all celebrations with regard to the victory of farmers, and celebratory rallies will be taken out day after tomorrow on December 11 when farmers leave the morcha (protest) sites together in victory rallies.”