Security up as farmers’ stir likely to intensify

Thousands of policemen were, meanwhile, deployed at the Delhi borders to thwart plans by anti-farm law agricultural unions to turn up the heat on the government by ramping up the scale of protests.

Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Saturday met a large delegation of farmers from Haryana who said they favoured farm reforms even as thousands of cultivators already protesting three laws to liberalise the sector drew up plans to scale up their demonstrations, beginning with a blockade of the Jaipur-Delhi national highway on Sunday.

Farmers shout slogans during a protest march against the recent farm laws at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border in Ghazipur on Saturday. (AFP)

Thousands of policemen were, meanwhile, deployed at the Delhi borders to thwart plans by anti-farm law agricultural unions to turn up the heat on the government by ramping up the scale of protests. The police also stopped protestors from blocking the main highway from Delhi to Agra. Protestors, backed by the Bharatiya Kisan Union, occupied toll plazas and allowed commuters to drive past without paying toll fees.

Agitating farmers allow reopening of Chilla road at Noida border

Pro-reform farmer organisations said they would lose out on opportunities if the laws, which the protestors say would promote corporate interests over those of the agricultural community, were scrapped and they too must be heard. Protesting farmers are concerned that they would be at the mercy of big corporations and that the system of minimum support prices (MSPs), which assures them guaranteed prices for staples, would be dismantled..

Leaders of large farm unions opposed to the laws, on the other hand, prepared to intensify their agitation by blocking all highways into Delhi, beginning with the Delhi-Jaipur expressway, and occupying toll plazas, but said their demonstrations would be peaceful.

Those who believe in status quo can’t make history: Narendra Singh Tomar

The union leaders will sit on a hunger strike on December 14, said Jagmohan Singh of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the platform of farmers spearheading the protests.

“Thousands of farmers will begin a tractor march tomorrow at 11 am from Shahjahanpur in Rajasthan and will block the Jaipur-Delhi main road. After our nationwide call, all toll plazas of Haryana are free today,” Kamal Preet Singh Pannu, another farm leader, said.

In their meeting with the farm minister, farmers supporting the laws said they would pressure the government to uphold the Acts

“We are progressive farmers representing farmer producer organisations. The reforms will bring big opportunities for us. Our voice should matter too,” said Jagat Ram of Prakritik Kheti Samaj of Karnal in Haryana.

Delhi Police stepped up deployment of its personnel and placed concrete barriers at various border points as farmers prepared to block the Delhi-Jaipur highway and the Yumuna Expressway.

“Farmers’ ‘Delhi march’ on Jaipur-Delhi highway will not start today and it will begin from Shahjahanpur border tomorrow. Today, farmers from Rajasthan and Haryana will congregate in Kotputli and Behror,” Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj India, a prominent face of the agitation, tweeted in Hindi.

Meanwhile, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has planned a campaign across the country to publicise the three laws, planning over 100 press conferences and 700 farmers’ meetings.

Farm minister Tomar on Saturday yet again appealed to protesting farmers to restart talks, which the protestors abandoned on December 9, to find a solution. .

In Uttar Pradesh, several farmers’ leaders were confined to their houses by the police after an alert over the farmers’ unions’ call to disrupt toll plazas across the state on Saturday in protest against the new farm reform laws, the police said.

They said the heavy contingents of police were deployed at around 130 toll plazas on highways and expressways across the state to ensure that no road was blockaded. Uttar Pradesh director general of police Hitesh Chandra Awasthy said no violence had been reported anywhere and peace prevailed.

In Meerut, a farmer leader, Chaudhary Diwakar Singh, said he was placed under house arrest in Faridpur village of Amroha on Saturday after he called the district magistrate of Moradabad over the phone to seek an appointment with chief minister Yogi Adityanath during his visit to the district.