26 January,2021 09:07 AM IST | New Delhi | mid-day online correspondent
A visual from Delhi tractor rally | Credit: Diwakar Sharma
Police used tear gas on farmers at Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar in New Delhi as farmers' tractor rally arrived there on Tuesday. Farmers also broke the barricading at Delhi-Haryana tikri border as they began their rally as part of the ongoing protest against the new agriculture laws on the occasion of Republic Day. They are heading towards Kanjhawala Chowk-Auchandi border-KMP-GT road junction.
Hundreds of farmers, comprising mostly the youths removed the barricades forcefully even as senior members in the groups were seen persuading them not to take matters into their hands and protest in a peaceful manner.
The youths also defied the conditions put by the farmers' unions as they played loud music and rode their tractors at high speed on the highway that connects Delhi with Uttar Pradesh.
Thousands of farmers marched into the national capital on foot and while riding tractors, even as paramilitary forces and Delhi Police personnel kept a wary eye on the evolving situation.
A senior police officer said that farmers began their rally before the scheduled time between 12 pm and 5 pm once the "official" Republic Day celebrations were over.
Kisan Congress Vice Chairman Surender Solanki, who is leading a protest by farmers at the Tikri border, told IANS: "Thousands of farmers have been assembling at the Tikri border since 3 am today for the tractor parade."
"Around 6 am, we began our tractor parade with hundreds of tractors. And we also removed the barricades put at the Jharoda border."
A temporary wall has been erected to seal the Karnal bypass to stop the entry of vehicles into the national capital.
Condemning the violence at farmers' protest, Aam Aadmi Party said it is regrettable that the central government allowed the situation to deteriorate to such an extent. "Farmer leaders have said that those who indulged in violence today were not part of the movement and were external elements. Whoever they were, the violence has certainly weakened the movement which was going on so peacefully and in a disciplined manner," said AAP.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut slammed the Union government, saying the government didn't listen to the protesting farmers till the end.
Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also condemned the incident, saying any violence in a democracy is not acceptable.
Deliberations are underway to strengthen the security apparatus. According to intelligence inputs, some 'organised groups' are behind the violence.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday called an emergency meeting at his residence over the violence that rocked parts of Delhi. According to sources, senior officers of Delhi Police are present at the meeting that has been called to take stock of the security arrangements.
The telecom operators like Jio, Airtel and Idea alerted their customers through messages about the disrupted Internet services. "As per the government instructions Internet services have been stopped in your areas till further notice," said a message received from Jio in a particular area where Internet services were barred.
The Ministry of Home Affairs in an order also suspended Internet services at Singhu, Ghazipur, Tikri, Mukarba Chowk and Nangloi, along with their adjoining areas, till 11.59 p.m. for maintaining 'public safety'.
Internet services snapped in some parts of Delhi-NCR in view of the prevailing law and order situation.
Police removed protesting farmers from Red Fort premises. Chaos reigned for nearly 90 minutes as some protesters, including 'Nihangs' (traditional Sikh warriors), forced their way into the Red Fort and hoisted a flag, reports PTI. The police later resorted to lathi-charge to vacate the Red Fort premises. Continuous announcements were being made asking the protesters to leave the complex peacefully.
Samyukta Kisan Morcha said that despite all efforts, some organisations and individuals violated route and indulged in condemnable acts. "Anti-social elements had infiltrated the otherwise peaceful movement. We've always held that peace is our biggest strength and any violation would hurt the movement. We thank farmers for the unprecedented participation in today's Farmers Republic Day Parade. We also condemn and regret the undesirable and unacceptable events that have taken place today and dissociate ourselves from those indulging in such acts," the farmers' union said.
After breaching barricades at Nangloi, protesting farmers are now taking designated route towards Najafgarh.
We know the people who are trying to create disturbance, they are identified. There are people from political parties who are trying to malign the agitation, said Rakesh Tikait.
Delhi Police issued traffic. Traffic diversions and alternative routes have been posted on Twitter by the police.
At Swaroop Nagar in New Delhi. Pic/ Diwakar Sharma
Flag hoisting at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on Tuesday. Pic/ Pradeep Dhivar
Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws - Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. The eleventh round of talks between farmers and the government was held on Friday.
The talks of farmer unions and the government have seemingly broken down after the former insisted on their demand for the repeal of three new farm laws and the latter asked them to reconsider its offer to put these laws on hold for about 18 months. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday said that the agitation against the farm laws which has been going on for almost two months will end soon.
(With inputs from agencies)
