Amid tight security, thousands of farmers on Thursday held a tractor-march from protest sites against the three agriculture bills. The tractor march started from four different points – Singhu to Tikri Border, Tikri to Kundli, Ghazipur to Palwal and Rewasan to Palwal.
According to the protesting farm unions, this is just “rehearsal” for their proposed January 26 tractor parade that will move into the national capital from different parts of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
Bharati Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) chief Joginder Singh Ugrahan said that farmers participated in the march with over 3,500 tractors and trolleys.
The tractor march commenced at around 11am and moved towards Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway amid heavy deployment of Delhi Police and Haryana Police personnel.
The tractor march, led by senior BKU leader Rakesh Tikait, moved towards Palwal.
“In the coming days, we will intensify our agitation against the three farm laws. Around 2,500 tractors from Haryana have participated in today’s march,” he said.
“We want to warn that if the government does not accept our demands, farmers’ protest will get intensified further,” said Abhimanyu Kohar, a senior member of Samkyukt Kisan Morcha.
Braving severe cold and rain, thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and other parts of the country have been camping at several Delhi border points for over 40 days, demanding repeal of farm laws, a legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) for their crops and two other issues. The seventh round of talks between protesting unions and three central ministers ended inconclusively on Monday as farmer groups stuck to their demand for the repeal of three laws, while the government listed out various benefits of the new acts for the growth of the country’s agriculture sector.
