For almost three months, farmers in Punjab and Haryana have protested against the laws.
Sonipat:
Water cannons were fired at full speed in Haryana’s Sonepat around 11pm amid the cold snap as police tried to disperse a small group of Punjab farmers who would not be deterred from their march to Delhi for a protest against the farm law. The group has been talking to police throughout the night from across a trench and barricade, requesting passage.
Since the night, the group of about 200 men had been standing in the middle of the road shouting slogans. Behind the barricades a small police team awaited, accompanied by water cannons and the arsenal necessary for riot control. Around 9 p.m., the tension in the small illuminated area, surrounded by a sea of darkness, showed that farmers were in no mood to pack for the night.
But moving on wasn’t easy either. Not only had the police excavated the road, the dirt from the trench has been piled up so that anyone on the other side would have a hard time reaching the barricades.
The small group is from Punjab. They are among the thousands who managed to cross the BJP government’s sealed border from Haryana this morning in the face of stiff resistance from the police and through the state.
For them, the biggest challenge is getting the Center to repeal the three farm laws, which they say is a threat to their livelihoods.
For nearly three months, farmers in Punjab and Haryana have been protesting the laws, which the Center says ushered in reforms in the agricultural sector by freeing farmers from the clutches of middlemen and allowing them to sell produce anywhere in the world. country.
Farmers and opposition parties argue that the laws could lead the government to stop the system of buying grain at guaranteed prices, leaving them at the mercy of large corporations.
Waving flags, men can be heard shouting slogans against the central government.
Simarjit Singh Bains, an MLA from the Punjab Lok Insaaf Party, is apparently leading the team and is expected to participate in the negotiations. The MLA had been one of the key leaders in the farmers’ three-month protest against the Center’s farm laws.
In September, he had announced a plan for a motorcycle rally in Delhi, which would end with pickets in Parliament.
Police, criticized throughout the day for using excessive force against peaceful protesters, said they were saving the fort for their senior officers, who were expected to conduct negotiations.
The protesters were unfazed. When asked how they plan to carry their modified tractors through the excavated road, they said they would figure it out. Until now they had.
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