Farmers protests: The police have removed the tractor and the fire has been put out.
New Delhi:
A tractor was set on fire near the India Gate in the heart of Delhi this morning during protests against the controversial farm laws, which have sparked widespread protests. The police have removed the tractor and firefighters have put out the fire.
President Ram Nath Kovind gave his consent on Sunday to the three bills passed in parliament last Sunday, which have sparked protests from farmers, especially in Punjab and Haryana.
15 to 20 people had gathered at the central Delhi location sometime between 7:15 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. and set the old tractor on fire. According to the police, the protesters had raised slogans in favor of Congress. Police are trying to identify those involved.
There have been huge farmer protests over the laws, especially in Punjab and Haryana, states that are known as the country’s cereal bowl. Punjab’s Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh will hold a sit-in today in Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Shaheed Bhagat Singh.
The Punjab Youth Congress live-streamed this morning’s protest at India Gate on its official Facebook page. Workers from the Punjab Youth Congress had allegedly tried to set fire to a tractor in Ambala of Haryana on September 20.
Farmers’ protests against the three farm laws continued on Sunday, with Punjab farmers sitting on the Amritsar-Delhi train track. Farmers, under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, have been organizing a sit-in on the train tracks in Punjab since last Wednesday.
In Karnataka, farmer groups have called for a statewide bandh or shutdown today against all three agriculture-related bills passed in parliament and two passed by the state assembly on Saturday. The bandh has been supported by Congress, which is opposed in Karnataka.
The opposition has criticized the way in which the three bills were passed in parliament and has asked the president not to sign them. They alleged that the bills were approved by voice vote in violation of the rules. The government, he said, lacked the figures, which would have been clear if a physical vote had been taken. They also accused Vice President Harivansh Singh, who was presiding over the proceedings, of colluding with the government.
Singh and the government have said that the opposition’s demands for a physical vote were rejected as members were not in their seats while making the demand.
The three agricultural laws are: the Agricultural Products Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Agricultural Price Guarantee and Services (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Farmers, 2020 and the Essential Products Act (Amendment ) 2020.
The government has claimed that these bills will allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere they want at a better price.
Farmers have expressed fear that the center’s agricultural reforms would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum price support system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big business.
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