With no favourable response from the government, farmers on Saturday blocked toll plazas at some places in Haryana, announced a tractor march on the Delhi-Jaipur Highway on Sunday and a day-long hunger strike on Monday to press for their demand of repeal of farm sector reforms.
Picking up instances of waving of placards demanding release of activists such as Varavara Rao, the Modi government alleged that the farmers’ protests have been hijacked by “naxalites and maoists”, prompting a sharp rebuttal from the farmer leaders.
“We have no connection with those posters. Those are not associated with the 32 farmers’ organisations spearheading the agitation,” Kawalpreet Singh Pannu, President of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, told reporters at the Singhu Border, the epicentre of the agitation.
Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal said the government has confidence that they will not allow Maoist and Naxal forces to influence the people across the country.
Pannu also announced plans to take the agitation pan-India, beginning with the blocking of the Delhi-Jaipur highway on Sunday and laying siege to district collector offices on Monday.
“We request our sisters and mothers to become part of the protest. We are arranging for the seating, sleeping and hygiene facilities for women protesters. We appeal to the girls and women across India to join the protest,” Major Singh Punnawal, of the All India Kisan Sabha, said.
The farmer leaders said they were ready for another round of talks with the government, but they would stick to their demand for the repeal of the three farm laws.
Saturday was the 17th day of farmers' protest on different borders of the national capital. Thousands of farmers, who began their sit-in from Singhu border on Delhi-Chandigarh border on November 26, are braving the chilly winter under open skies.
(Published 12 December 2020, 15:03 IST)
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