Mandeep Punia was arrested from the Singhu border on Sunday for allegedly misbehaving with the police personnel on duty at the farmers' protest site there, officials said.
Tens of thousands of farmers gathered in Muzaffarnagar town on Friday to attend a mahapanchayat in support of the Bharatiya Kisan Union-led protest against the Centre's new farm laws in Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border.
Indiana Pacers coach Nate McMillan has said US President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign slogan 'Make America Great Again' rings hollow because the country has never been 'great' for its Black citizens. McMillan's comments come in the wake of weeks of protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis.
Nobody bothered to articulate the upsides; instead, the four-year tour of duty and denial of life-long pensions got played up.
Job-seekers for government and related opportunities found that their future was at risk, points out Shreekant Sambrani.
'Why do you want to use the might of swords to make your point?' 'Why do you use force to scare people who don't subscribe to your views?'
Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary also said the government is always ready for talks but it is up to farmer unions to decide whether they want to go ahead with the scheduled ninth round of talks on January 15.
Bollywood stars Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, filmmaker Karan Johar and Suniel Shetty on Wednesday said citizens should focus on the government's efforts to resolve the ongoing farmer crisis rather than paying attention to "half truths" and those "creating differences."
The statement comes after videos and photos of workers removing the nails near Ghazipur border surfaced on social media.
"Farmers would like to remind the PM that it is 'andolans' that have liberated India from colonial rulers and that is why we are proud to be 'Andolan-jivi'."
The minister said the farmer unions have been asked to revert till Saturday if they agree to the government's proposal for putting the laws on hold and forming a joint committee to reach a solution, after which the talks can continue.
The farmer representatives were unanimous in seeking repeal of the 3 laws.
Tractors from Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan have also reached on Tikri border between Delhi-Haryana as the farmers sit in for protest for nearly two months. The move comes as Delhi Police formally granted permission for the rally on January 26, assigning them routes for the same.
Wearing garlands, the farmer leaders, who had called for observing 'Sadbhavana Diwas' (Harmony Day) on Saturday after the immense outrage over violence by protesters during their Republic Day tractor rally, sat on the dais during the fast, as crowds of supporters swelled, especially in Gazipur where the Bharatiya Kisan Union is leading the protest.
Addressing a press conference at a protest site on the Singhu border, they said the "super bandh" made the government open its 'eyes and ears'.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of the farmer unions protesting the three farm laws, said emergency and essential services such as ambulance and school bus will not be stopped during the 'chakka jam' that is proposed to be held between 12 pm and 3 pm.
Unfazed by the widespread criticism of his comments against the Hindi film The Kashmir Files, Israeli director and IFFI international jury chair Nadav Lapid said he stands by his remarks as he "knows how to recognise propaganda disguised as a movie".
"The question of entering into Delhi is a law and order matter and will be determined by the police," the bench said.
The representatives of thousands of agitating farmers, who are sitting on various borders of the national capital since November 26 demanding repeal of the three agri laws, have said that the countrywide strike on Tuesday would be observed with full force.
'If the government wants to see our strength, we will show them'
BJP general secretary Arun Singh said that during the course of the meet, discussions will be held on farm laws, Aatmanirbhar Bharat and upcoming state polls.
By late evening, a large group of them had reached the road toll plaza at Panipat, about 100 km from Delhi. Bhartiya Kisan Union (Haryana) leader Gurnam Singh said the protesters planned to spend the night there and will resume the march the next morning.
With almost all opposition parties too backing the 'Bharat bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure peace is maintained.
The farmers stuck to their demand of taking out the rally on Delhi's busy Outer Ring Road.
The remarks of the apex court, which also said there is a 'peculiar lack of comprehension' about constitution of a panel, assumes importance as some of the members of the recently constituted committee to resolve the deadlock between farmers and the centre over the farm laws had earlier reportedly expressed their views on the subject.
There is an acute imbalance of power between the various organs of the State, including the executive, the legislature, the judiciary, and the ultimate sovereign -- the people, argues R Jagannathan.
For large numbers of employees in the government system, the month-end salary cheque is no longer guaranteed. So the days of the government and State-owned enterprises wanting to be ideal employers are over, observes T N Ninan.
Without naming the Prime Minister or using his 'andolanjivi' phrase, Tikait said, "In Parliament, they are saying these are parjivis (parasites). Was Bhagat Singh who sacrificed his life for this nation a parjivi? What about 150 farmers who died during this agitation? Were they parjivis too? Had they gone to Delhi to agitate and die?"
With the talks between the Centre and the agitating farmer unions stalled since January, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday expressed readiness to resume the dialogue to resolve their objections to the three new agri laws, but the unions remained adamant on their demands for a repeal of the legislations and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price.
Protests at this time when efforts are underway to strengthen the PLA and keep morale high would be worrying for the military leadership, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the retired senior RA&W officer and distinguished China expert.
"The space for dissent and debate is shrinking. People are jailed without trial through arbitrarily imposed charge of sedition," the Nobel laureate alleged.
'It is quite clear that the agitation against the farm laws is against the Centre and they will try to create all hurdles they can in that. They are using all tactics as their sole purpose is to defeat the agitation'
'The Khalistanis get bulk of the money from abroad.' 'Where did Amritpal's Mercedes come from, which costs well over Rs 60 lakhs?' 'Where does his fleet of vehicles come from?' 'Local Punjabis can certainly not contribute this kind of money.'
"We now realise that the so-called farmer agitation hardly remains a farmers' agitation. It has almost got infiltrated by Leftist and Maoist elements, a flavour of which we saw over the last two days when there were extraneous demands to release people who have been put behind bars for anti-national (and) who have been put behind bars for illegal activities," Goyal, the Minister for Railways, Commerce and Industry and Food and Consumers Affairs, said at FICCI's annual meeting.
The government and the farmers must come back to the negotiating table with only the interest of the country in mind, suggests Vivek Gumaste.
'The government till now said that we did not want a meeting, now that we have specifically told them when, where and what of the meeting, there is no response from them'
India has called the remarks by foreign leaders on protests by farmers as "ill-informed" and "unwarranted" as the matter pertained to the internal affairs of a democratic country.
Floyd's death has triggered nationwide violent protests with a section of the protesters resorting to looting and rioting across the country, leaving behind a trail of destruction.
Expressing regret that some have created "misconception in a planned manner" in the hearts of protesting farmers on these farm laws, the minister said however the government is constantly engaging with such farmer unions.
Addressing a public meeting in Badhni Kalan in Punjab's Moga district, Gandhi asserted that the contentious Acts would be revoked if the Congress was voted to power.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not respect farmers and wants to tire out those protesting against the Centre's new agriculture laws, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged.
