Farmers protest at Shambhu border
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, February 20: Punjab-based farmers organisations would seek to march into the national capital as part of their call to press for their demands on Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) and farm loan waivers. The leaders of the agitating farmers have rejected the government proposal to link the MSP to crop diversification.
After talks between farmer organizations and the central government regarding guarantee of minimum support price for crops and other demands yielded no results, farmers have once again called for a march to Delhi. The farmers will seek to push into Haryana from the Shambhu border where they are currently camping.
However, the United Kisan Morcha, which had previously agitated on the Delhi border for a year, has announced not to join the call for the Delhi march. Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher, while announcing the Delhi march on Tuesday, said that the government is trying to delay the farmers’ demand of giving legal guarantee to the minimum support price. Our movement will continue until the government accepts the demands of the farmers, he told reporters.
He has also said that the government should immediately call a special session of parliament and make a law. In view of the farmers’ march to Delhi, strict security arrangements have been made on the Delhi border. Along with increasing the deployment of police forces on the border, barriers have been installed at various places. Police are monitoring every activity through drones. Meanwhile, backchannel talks are being held with the farmer organizations so that the farmer organizations can be prevented from marching to Delhi.
It is noteworthy that the protesting farmers are standing on the Haryana-Punjab border demanding various demands including legal guarantee of minimum support price for crops. In the last call for the march to Delhi, the agitating farmers had alleged that they were targeted with tear gas from drones. Some of the agitating farmers were also allegedly injured in the police action.
The Haryana Police appear determined to stop the agitating farmers to enter into the state from Punjab. It is also noteworthy that the farmers of the western Uttar Pradesh have not yet joined the protests. Still, the police have made arrangements at the Ghazipur border with Uttar Pradesh to stop the farmers from entering the national capital.
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