Thousands of farmers fought a pitched battle with the police on Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border on Tuesday even as the Modi Government’s efforts to broker peace with them failed.
Union Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat was rushed to meet the protesting farmers. While some farmer groups agreed to consider the assurances given by the Government, others said they were not “satisfied” and decided to continue with their protest, call for which has been given by Naresh Tikait-led Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) demanding loan waiver, higher support price and steps to safeguard farmers against rising fuel prices, among others.
The Government said a review petition will be filed against the National Green Tribunal’s order to ban diesel vehicles that are over 10 years old and several other measures will be taken to address farmers’ concerns.
The Centre also assured farmers that it would fix the minimum support prices (MSP) for rabi (winter-sown) crops like wheat at least 1.5 times of the production cost. It would also try to restrict imports of agri items that are produced abundant in the country.
Shekhawat said a committee of Chief Ministers will also look into the farmers’ demands, as he sought to assure the protesters that the Government will take forward their cause.
“Representatives of farmers along with Ministers of UP Government Laxmi Narayan and Suresh Rana held discussion on a range of issues at Rajnath Singh’s residence. After that a consensus was reached on some issues. The Government has agreed to some of your demands,” Shekhawat told the farmers.
The Minister said he has been associated with farmers’ issues and he could say with “certainty” on Lal Bahadur Shastri’s birth anniversary that there have been only a few successful agitations like this in the past.
BKU chief Naresh Tikait, however, said the farmers are “not satisfied” with the Government’s assurance.
“This has not been a good decision. All important demands have not been accepted and we are not satisfied with this assurance,” he said.
The farmer leader, whose father Mahendra Singh Tikait had led a massive farmers’ rally in the national Capital about three decades ago, said sufficient talks have not been held so far on key issues faced by farmers even as the Government has given assurances on some demands.
“But, our main demands of electricity, sugarcane recommendations of Swaminathan report remain unfulfilled,” Tikait said.
On the next step, he said, “We are sitting here as of now and this only is our next step. We will discuss this and then decide on future course of action. I cannot decide anything alone, our committee will take the decision.”
Yudhvir Singh, Bharatiya Kisan Union spokesperson, said, “We had a discussion on 11 points. Government agreed on seven points but haven’t agreed on four points yet. They said they will have to think about those in next meeting after which they will tell us as it is a financial matter.”
Tension gripped the National Capital as thousands of protesting farmers attempted to forcefully enter the city prompting the Delhi Police to resort to lathi charge, water cannons and tear gas shells in order to prevent their advance.
With a spike in political temperature following the use of force by the police, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh held discussion at length with Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and others to discuss farmers’ issues.
The rally began from Tikait Ghat in Haridwar on September 23. Farmers from places as far as Gonda, Basti and Gorakhpur and the sugarcane belt of western UP joined the agitation. The week-long journey was planned to end at “Kisan Ghat” in Delhi.
“Our demand is to democratise the procurement system. We want the Government to give farmer producer organisations (FPOs) chance to procure it from market but got little support what these white elephant (NAFED and FCI) receives,” said Binod Anand of Rashtriya Kisan Mahashangha.
Chaos prevailed on the Delhi-UP border as these protesters tried to make their way into Delhi by barging into the barricades along with their tractor trolleys.
Earlier, heavy police presence on Delhi-UP border at Ghazipur effectively diffused and contained the advancement of thousands of farmers from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.
Earlier, several protesters, including some elderly, sustained minor injuries in clashes with police officials and were rushed to hospital for first-aid. Seven policemen, including an ACP, were injured in the melee.
Following no permission from the authorities for the Kisan March and in order to maintain “law and order” more than 3,000 police personnel were deployed. Several reserved companies of Rapid Action Force (RAF) were kept on stand-by and were deployed to man the situation.
Police barricades numbering in hundreds were used to block the entry point. According to the apex court directive, tractors are not allowed to ply on the roads of the national Capital except those for the farm purposes.
Water cannons were stationed just beyond the barricades to contain protesters advance. Policemen were also deployed in civvies to keep tap on the situation.
“Announcements were regularly made on public address system about promulgation of Section 144 Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and request was specifically made not to attempt entry into Delhi forcefully on tractor trolleys since there was no permission,” said a senior police official.
“Despite persuasive methods requesting them to wait till the outcome of the talks of their leaders with the Central Government, a section of the crowd suddenly turned violent and tried to break the barricades forcefully through tractor trolleys and were also carrying lathis,” said the senior police official.
“Some protesters also resorted to stone-pelting and wielded lathis causing injuries to police personnel deployed on duty. Under these circumstances, only the minimum required force was used to contain these aggressive and violent protesters. However, after using water cannon and tear gas shells on a limited scale, the situation was brought under control, and thereafter use of any force was discontinued forthwith, resorting again to persuasive tactics,” said a senior police official.
The city police had on Monday imposed prohibitory orders in east and northeast Delhi, anticipating law and order problems as thousands of BKU members were on a march from Haridwar slated to reach the national capital on Tuesday.
Some of the protesting farmers claimed that a few Delhi Police personnel had resorted to lathicharge against some of them. The Delhi Police, however, denied the charge.
In east Delhi, the prohibitory orders issued by Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Pankaj Singh under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, will be in force until October 8.
It covers Preet Vihar, Jagatpuri, Shakarpur, Madhu Vihar, Ghazipur, Mayur Vihar, Mandawli, Pandav Nagar, Kalyanpuri and New Ashok Nagar police station limits. In northeast Delhi, the prohibitory orders were issued by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) Atul Kumar Thakur and will be in force till October 4.