Farmers' tractors ready with tricolour for rally after R-Day parade in Delhi

Hundreds of farmers, who have been agitating against the Centre’s three agricultural laws for two months now, were seen ready with the colours of the national flag on their tractors at the borders of Delhi for their rally scheduled to be held shortly after the Republic Day parade in the Capital’s Rajpath area on Tuesday.

The police say about 30,000 tractors are likely to participate in the rally, but farm leaders said the number of vehicles will be closer to 200,000. The farm unions have promised not to veer from the three routes — centred around the Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders. The protesting farmers have been allotted a time slot of 12pm to 5pm to hold the rally, according to the No-Objection Certificate (NOC) given by the police to them.

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To ensure the tractor parade remains peaceful, farmers have formed groups to look after security. Farmer leaders at Uttar Pradesh Gate border have divided their route into nine zones and each zone will have 200 volunteers present who will be assisting the police during the rally, they said.

Farmers from several states have joined protesters at Delhi borders to participate in the tractor rally. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha said that while the Republic Day rally is planned as a one-day event, the scale of the protest could mean that the rally could spill over to the next day by the time they return to their starting spots located at three different rally routes in and around the Capital.

Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at the borders of Delhi since November 26 last year after they were denied entry in the national capital to protest against farm laws enacted by the government in September. The legislation, however, has been stayed by the Supreme Court for the time being.

The protesters have been engaged in talks with the central leadership, and so far 11 rounds have been held but the deadlock over the three farm laws is still continuing.

(With agency inputs)