In the midst of their confrontation with the Center over their protest site in Delhi, farmers demonstrating at the Singhu entry point on the Delhi-Haryana border on Monday were busy commemorating the birth anniversary of the first Sikh teacher, Guru Nanak Dev, listening to ‘kirtan’ and recalling his teachings in a gloomy atmosphere.
The farmers, most of them from Punjab and adherents of the Sikh religion, have stood firm on the Singhu border for the past five days and are standing firm in holding their proposed protest on the Jantar Mantar or Ramlila field. All this time, your leaders are busy reflecting on their future course of action.
The atmosphere totally changed at the protest site on Monday: instead of the confrontation between farmers and police officers witnessed last week by the former attempts to enter Delhi and the subsequent enthusiastic slogans against the government and the new agricultural laws. Central, the site of the protest resounded in the sounds of ‘kirtan’ or the singing of hymns on the 501st anniversary of the birth of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of the Sikh religion.
Meanwhile, peasant leaders appeared to be inflexible in their position regarding dialogue with the central government, as they have clearly rejected the offer to relocate to Burari land.
“We will not move to the Burari farm in northwest Delhi as it is just another tactic to marginalize us and thwart our protest against their draconian agricultural laws,” a peasant leader told IANS.
He claimed that farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, would continue to block the Singhu and Tikri borders until the government repealed those laws.
Meanwhile, the northern outer district police deputy commissioner met with peasant leaders on Monday and urged them to clear part of the Delhi-Ambala highway to facilitate the movement of security forces.
The leaders of the protesting farmers have been instructed to stay where they are until given instructions.
The leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Rakesh Tikait, has also said that farmers in western Uttar Pradesh have also decided to stay at the Ghazipur entry point. “We will not leave this place. We will not move to Burari. The Center should come forward and listen to the farmers,” he had said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that he was committed to the welfare of working farmers, and the Center’s new agricultural laws were a step in this direction.
(With input from IANS)
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