Farmers' stir regains momentum

Ghaziabad/New Delhi: Agitating farmer leaders held a day-long fast at various protest sites on Delhi's borders on Mahatma Gandhi's death anniversary on Saturday as the stir against the agriculture laws appeared to regain momentum after rallying support from the agricultural community of the crucial western Uttar Pradesh region.

More farmers gathered at Ghazipur, on the Delhi-Meerut highway, that has now become the new focal point of the stir.

Union leaders claimed that protesters were also heading back to Singhu and Tikri borders from Punjab and Haryana, days after the crowds had waned following the violence at the tractor rally on January 26.

The administration remained on high alert with internet services temporarily suspended at the Singhu, Ghazipur, and Tikri borders of the national capital. Security personnel, including from anti-riot police and paramilitary forces, were deployed in strength. Multiple layers of barricades, including concrete blocks, were being put at the protest sites.

Wearing garlands, the farmer leaders, who had called for observing 'Sadbhavana Diwas' (Harmony Day) on Saturday after the immense outrage over violence by protesters during their Republic Day tractor rally, sat on the dais during the fast, as crowds of supporters swelled, especially in Ghazipur where the Bharatiya Kisan Union is leading the protest.

Addressing the protesters in Ghazipur, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait, whose emotional appeal had galvanised farmers from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to flock to the protest site, said they have fought this battle for over two months now, and "they won't relent or retreat".

"The movement was and is strong," BKU's Meerut Zone president Pawan Khatana said, a day after tens of thousands of farmers from politically sensitive western Uttar Pradesh had gathered in Muzaffarnagar to participate in a mahapanchayat in a massive outpouring of support for the Bharatiya Kisan Union-led protest.

Pankaj Pradhan, 52, head of Charaura village in Bulandshahr, who arrived in the afternoon along with seven other people to Ghazipur border protest site, became emotional, recalling the night of January 28.

"We were all awake, watching Tikait ji crying, some were glued to TV sets, others on mobile phones, and we all felt restless. I was moved to tests too, and women too got emotional. But, his tears touched a chord with everyone, and made them connect stronger to the movement," he said.

Farmers also came from Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and other parts of Uttar Pradesh, many of whom addressed the crowd at the protest site.

Till now, the agitation was seen as mainly being led by Punjab-based farmer unions.

A multitude of green-and-white caps, symbolic of the unions spearheading the battle, union flags and the tricolour, planted on tractors, dotted the highway.

On various tractors and camps, photos of legendary farmer leaders such as Chaudhary Charan Singh and Mahendra Singh Tikait have been put up. Khatana, who is at the demonstration site with Tikait, said there has been continuous support for the "peaceful protest" against the farmers' demand for removal of the new agri laws.