The farmers’ ongoing protest enters its 17th day on Saturday with a massive plan to block roads put in place. As the impasse persists with the government saying that it is open to talks and farmers also agree to further discussions, only if the Center wants to discuss the withdrawal of the three agricultural laws, the standoff does not see an immediate resolution while the Protest intensifies with more and more farmer groups uniting. On Friday, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar reiterated the Center’s commitment, saying that it has not yet received any proposals from farmer agitators. Farmers, on the other hand, said the Center should inform farmers when they want to meet.
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Here are the latest updates from the protest:
1. On Friday at midnight, farmers dominated the Karnal and Panipat toll plazas on the Delhi-Chandigarh national highway, allowing free circulation. Today, the workers of Bharatiya Kisan Union will make all the roads leading to Delhi toll free.
2. Faridabad Police are deploying up to 3,500 police officers to toll plazas at five Delhi-Haryana border points, including the Badarpur border, Gurugram Faridabad, Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal, Pali Crusher Zone and Dhauj. There will also be surveillance with drones.
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3. On Friday, the Center alleged that left-wing Maoists are hijacking the farmers’ protest. “The people of India are watching, watching what is happening, watching how all over the country the leftist-Maoists are not finding any support and therefore they are trying to hijack this farmer agitation and trying to misuse from this platform for his own agenda “Minister of Consumer Affairs Piyush Goyal tweeted.
Four. A faction of the Bharatiya Kisan Union has moved to the Supreme Court demanding that the laws be repealed. “The contested laws corporatize agriculture and give way to a deregulated and exploitative regime because Indian farmers, the majority of whom are illiterate, would not have the knowledge to negotiate the best conditions with a private company and because of this [will] lead to an unequal bargaining position in negotiating agricultural agreements with companies, ”the statement said.
5. Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) leader and Haryana Senior Deputy Minister Dushyant Chautala said Thursday that he will resign from his post in the state government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) if he cannot guarantee a minimum price of support for the purchase of crops from farmers.
6. As various groups of farmers from Punjab, Haryana head to Delhi, there will be sit-ins near the BJP offices on December 14, according to the protesters’ plan. The Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh will organize sit-ins on Monday.
7. Meanwhile, the BJP has decided to carry out programs at the national level, including chaupal in rural areas to highlight the benefits of the three agricultural laws.
8. The main protest site on the Singhu border is packed with protesters who are settling into their new makeshift homes without showing any signs of change. Carts containing brown sugar, roasted gram, peanuts and gajjak arrived at the Singhu border on Friday from Punjab.
9. Free medical units have also been set up to monitor the health of elderly protesters who are braving the cold.
10. The national spokesman for the Bharatiya Kisan Union, Rakesh Tikait, said on Friday that farmers will not back down now unless all three laws are repealed.
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