COURTESY HT JAN 30

Hundreds of Punjab farmers leave for Delhi on Tikait call
Vishal Rambani

rambani@hindustantimes.com

PATIALA : Within hours of an appeal by Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait, hundreds of farmers from Punjab on Friday left for the Delhi borders to join the protest against the Central government demanding withdrawal of the three new agriculture laws.

More than 2,000 tractors left for the national capital since morning and the number is likely to go up on Saturday and Sunday.

After the midnight police action at Gazipur, which led Tikait to make an emotional speech, farmers who were about to reach Punjab returned to Delhi. Appeals were also made to gurdwaras and other religious places in villages to ask people to reach Delhi to build up pressure on the central government.

“Since midnight, the number of tractors and other vehicles carrying farmers towards Delhi has gone up,” said Satnam Singh, who is running a langar (community kitchen) for farmers on GT Road near Rajpura.

“We got massages to reach in maximum numbers. Every village will send at least 50 volunteers,” said Harinder Singh from Kalanaur of Gurdaspur district who was driving to Delhi in a tractor. “Many will come on Saturday. We won’t allow any misadventure or use of force against farmers. The government can’t use Delhi violence as a pretext to lift the peaceful protest,” said Kuldeep Singh of Sanghol village in Fatehgarh Sahib.

“We have asked our workers to remain there. We will replace them in the next 10 days by sending another group of people,” said BKU leader Satnam Singh of Samana who was mobilising people.

BKU Ugrahan condemns ‘attack’ at Singhu

The BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) on Friday condemned the alleged attack on farmers at the Singhu border, saying people must stand firm against this “fascist attack at the behest of the BJP government at the Cemtre.

Addressing a gathering near the Tikri border, union’s state secretary Shingara Singh Mann alleged that the silence of police during the attack of “RSS fundamentalists” on the farmers was a proof of the planned conspiracy of the BJP. Mann urged people to act like the UP farmers who came out against the ‘police attack’ at the Gazipur border. “The Modi government is trying to suppress this movement by creating a rift between the farmers of Punjab and other states.”

(Inputs from Sangrur