Chilla border: Farmers plan parade on Republic Day

Noida: Farmers camped at the Chilla border, between Noida and Delhi, conducted rehearsals on Monday morning for a parade they hope to carry out at Rajpath on Republic

Noida: Farmers camped at the Chilla border, between Noida and Delhi, conducted rehearsals on Monday morning for a parade they hope to carry out at Rajpath on Republic Day, while braving the rain and drop in mercury.

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“We will take our tractors and carry out a parade on Rajpath, parallel to the Republic Day parade. Several other farmer organisations are part of the plan. Maybe that will get the government to finally pay attention to our issues,” said Ramveer Singh Tomar, a protestor from the Bharatiya Kisan Union’s (BKU) Bhanu faction.

On Monday, the farmers were joined by a Delhi resident who wanted to celebrate his birthday with them.

“His name was the same as mine – Yogesh – and he had turned 27. He sat with us to celebrate his birthday and had brought daal-chawal with him, which he shared with some of us. This was his way of lending support to our cause. People understand our plight and have been supporting us in their own way,” said Yogesh Pratap Singh, state president, BKU-Bhanu.

Police said they are maintaining status quo.

“For now, the status quo is being maintained both in terms of law and order, and traffic,” said additional deputy commissioner of police, Zone 1, Kumar Ranvijay Singh.