New Delhi: Hours after starting the “Delhi Chalo” protest, the farmers on Friday suspended the march for a day after several of them sustained injuries as the Haryana police resorted to teargas shelling to disperse protesters who tried to breach the multi-layered barricades erected at Shambhu on the Punjab and Haryana border. The farmers are protesting to press for various demands, including a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP).
As around half-a-dozen farmers sustained injuries, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher announced the suspension of the march for the day and said the injured farmers were taken to a hospital. “We have called back the ‘jattha’ for a day. Further, two forums of the farmers’ bodies, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, will decide the next course of action after a meeting,” said Pandher.
Meanwhile, SKM leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal continued his fast-unto-death at the Khanauri along the Punjab and Haryana border.
Amid the chaos at the Shambhu border, the Congress extended support to the protesting farmers. Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi condemned the police action and urged the Centre to immediately accept the farmers’ demands. In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said, “Firing tear gas shells on them (farmers) and trying to stop them in various ways is condemnable. The government should listen to their demands and problems seriously. The suffering of the farmers can be gauged from the fact that today in the country, one farmer is forced to commit suicide every hour”.
“The country has not forgotten the martyrdom of more than 700 farmers in the first farmers’ movement due to the extreme insensitivity of the Modi government. We understand the pain of the farmers and support their demands,” the LoP added.
Meanwhile, the Haryana government on Friday suspended mobile Internet and bulk SMS service in 11 villages of the Ambala district till December 9. The state government has also ordered the closure of all government and private schools in the district.
Earlier in the day, a jattha of 101 farmers began to march towards the national capital from their protest site at the Shambhu border but was stopped at the multi-layered barricading erected by Haryana security personnel.
As the group tried to breach the barricades, security personnel lobbed multiple tear gas shells to disperse the protesting farmers and force them to retreat to their protest site.
Water cannon vehicles have also been deployed at the Shambhu border point. The Haryana police asked the farmers not to proceed further, citing a prohibitory order clamped by the Ambala district administration under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) that prohibits the assembly of five or more people.
Pandher had on Thursday told the media that if the government stopped them from carrying out their march, it will be a “moral victory” for the farmers.
