More join as protest enters 26th day at UP Gate

Ghaziabad: Dozens of more tractor-trolleys have come in at the UP Gate protest site in the past two days after the protesting farmers earlier this week had blocked

Ghaziabad: Dozens of more tractor-trolleys have come in at the UP Gate protest site in the past two days after the protesting farmers earlier this week had blocked the Delhi-Ghaziabad side of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway. Farmers’ leaders said that some of their vehicles are still stuck at the Uttarakhand border, even as the protest at the UP Gate entered the 26th day on Thursday.

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As more vehicles came in, the tents and tractor-trolleys have lined up from the UP Gate up to Khoda Colony on the highway while more trolleys are getting parked on the road leading from Dabur Crossing to the protest site.

“We still have some issues with vehicles which are getting stopped at borders of UP-Uttarakhand and also in Udham Singh Nagar. We will speak to officials about this. People are coming in rotation to the UP Gate to attend the protest,” said Jagtar Singh Bajwa, a farmer leader from Uttarakhand.

Over the developments on Thursday in Delhi when senior Congress leaders met President Ram Nath Kovind, seeking his intervention to repeal the three laws, the protesters at UP Gate reiterated that the ongoing protests at Delhi borders were purely farmers’ agitation. “They are leaders of political parties and we cannot say anything about them. We know that the agitation is purely of farmers,” Bajwa added.

The protesting farmers are demanding rollback of the Centre’s three farm laws. At least six rounds of talks between government representatives and farmers’ leaders have failed to break the deadlock as the government has proposed amendments and not inclined to repeal the laws.

“For decades, our incomes have not increased and we are still producing food and soldiers. I am from a farmer’s family and protesting here while my brother is serving the Indian Army,” said Vijay Hindustani, a second-year law student from Shamli in western UP who joined the protest two days ago.

Vijay is roaming bare-chested in the winter chill and displaying names of martyrs which he has got tattooed on his back. “I started getting tattooed names of martyrs on the back after the Pulwama attack on security forces. I will continue to remain at the UP Gate site till the new farm laws are repealed,” he added, while showing a sticker with words scribbled, “I love Kisan” and pasted to his chest.

The stickers, of late, have become popular at the UP Gate site. The farmers said that such stickers are distributed by volunteers at every protest site. “We have pasted the sticker on our T-shirts and many such stickers are also pasted on tents, tractor-trolleys and other vehicles at the UP Gate. The sticker shows that we all are farmers though we are from different farmer organisations. I am a volunteer of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, but have pasted the sticker on my T-shirt,” said Prashant Tyagi, a youngster from Muzaffarnagar.

On Thursday, a group of Buddhists also arrived at the protest site and said that they will continue to stay at the UP Gate till farmers protest goes on. “We have been to Singhu Border protest site for the past two days and now come to the UP Gate. The farmers here are carrying on peaceful protests. This is very important that the protest has remained peaceful. So, we will stay here in their support. Once, one of our groups leaves, the other will join,” said Acharya Bhikkhu Sumit Ratna, who arrived from Lucknow.