Protesting farmers have faced lathi-charge, tear gas and water cannons
New Delhi:
Thousands of outraged farmers marching into Delhi to protest farm laws are more afraid of discrimination and loss of their livelihoods than of the Covid pandemic, a farmer told NDTV on Friday, as the army of protesters arrived. on the outskirts of the national capital.
“Humein Covid se darr nahin lagta, lekin humaare saath jo bhed-bhaav ho raha hai, us se lagta hai (We are not afraid of Covid, but we are afraid of the discrimination shown to us), we are farmers … all of us who have gathered here, “one of the farmers told NDTV.
“Here there is no politics at stake … no political party has any role in this. It is a movement of farmers. Whoever says this is political does not care about the well-being of farmers,” he added.
The protesting farmers, whose numbers are expected to swell to tens of thousands by the end of the day, have formed a human chain in parts as police try to break up the unrest.
A senior Delhi police officer said: “We will not endanger the residents of Delhi. We will not allow them to enter Delhi at any cost,” said Gaurav Sharma, DCP (Outer North) as he ordered the farmers to be gassed.
Farmers from six states (Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Kerala and Punjab) marched to Delhi on Thursday, only to be confronted by a massive Haryana police force that used lathi charges, tear gas and water cannons in an attempt to hit backing peaceful protesters.
Police also set up barricades wrapped in barbed wire and trucks loaded with sand to block farmers’ path, and even dug roads to serve as trenches. The footage from Thursday and this morning when they reached the Delhi border showed the two sides in scenes that would not look out of place in a war zone.
Police officers have cited coronavirus rules to stop protesters
Authorities have cited coronavirus rules, which require social distancing, to stop farmers. The Haryana government, which has been criticized for its handling of this incident, has also banned large gatherings (again citing Covid rules) to quell farmers’ protest.
Haryana has more than 20,000 active Covid cases, while Delhi is battling a third wave of infections that has seen the number of active cases rise to nearly 40,000.
However, the government’s reference to Covid rules to detain farmers has been questioned by protesters and civil society activists, who have pointed out that such rules did not appear to apply when Haryana’s Chief Deputy Minister Dushyant Chautala recently made a great political demonstration.
On Thursday, another protesting farmer, Singhu, made the same point, as did Swaraj India chief Yogendra Yadav, who was detained by the Haryana police in Gurgaon.
“Three days ago, Dushyant Chautala gathered thousands of farmers. No mask. No social distancing. So there is no pandemic. Elections in Bihar, there is no pandemic. When farmers gather, then there is a pandemic. It must be a very strange disease. “, said. he told NDTV.
Several farmers have rejected the idea that their protest is in any way political, an accusation made by Haryana’s chief minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, against his Punjab counterpart Amarinder Singh.
The protest, scheduled for more than two months, has the support of 500 farmers’ organizations.
Farmers are protesting new laws that the center says will reform the agricultural sector by cutting out middlemen and improving farmers’ profits by allowing them to sell products anywhere in the country.
Farmers and opposition parties argue that the laws will deprive farmers of a guaranteed minimum price for their produce and leave them at the mercy of companies.
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