Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday had a meeting with Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava, ahead of the 'chakka jam' announced by farmer unions protesting against the three agri laws at Delhi's borders, sources said.
The protests against farm laws saw a fair share of controversies as well with climate activist Greta Thunberg and pop sensation Rihanna making their way to India's prime time debates and terms such as 'toolkit' and 'andolanjeevi' entering the Indian political lexicon.
The agitating farmers had earlier said they would picket toll plazas to press their demand for a repeal of the three new laws, which were voted through in Parliament in September amid strong protests by opposition parties.
Farmers have taken down their settlements and have vacated the borders around Delhi, which were their protesting sites for the last one year.
The Shiromani Akali Dal had on Saturday quit the National Democratic Alliance over the farm bills issue.
Thousands of farmers have reached the national capital on their tractor-trolleys and other vehicles, responding to the 'Delhi Chalo' call against the agri-marketing laws enacted at the Centre in September. On Saturday morning, it wasn't clear if they will agree to move to the Burari ground on the outskirts of the city, where police said they can continue with their protest. Many protesters were demanding a better venue in the centre of Delhi. Originally, the protest was meant to be on November 26 and 27.
As thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, braved water cannons and teargas to camp at the national capital's borders to demand a rollback of the laws and their representatives held talks with the government, the songs flowed, speaking of pride of the land, strength in unity and the rights of the people fighting a mighty establishment.
Western UP contributes nearly 70 seats to the 402-member UP assembly. In 2017, the BJP had swept the region. Every pre-2022 poll survey had suggested the party would face its biggest attrition from this region because of the farmers' groups.
Referring to the incident, a fresh plea has been filed for urgent hearing of the PIL, pending since March this year, saying "The right to freedom of speech and expression cannot supersede the right to life and if this protest is allowed to go in like this, the nation at large will be at a loss."
Here are some of the key farmer leaders who fronted the protests.
Most of India knows Deep Sidhu as the man who planted the Sikh religious flag on Red Fort.
Farmer outfits on Friday started mobilising more batches of peasants from Haryana and Punjab to head towards Delhi's borders to join the ongoing agitation against agri laws, even as political parties such as the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Indian National Lok Dal threw their weight behind them.
In total, the Centre plans to purchase around 40.7 million tonnes of wheat from farmers this year, which is almost 19 per cent more than last year.
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.
Experts have said the reservation provision will set unrealistic goals for organisational hiring, but will also reduce productivity by reducing the available talent pool to a few people within the state.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of the agitating unions, is meeting on Sunday to decide on the next course of action, including on the MSP issue and the proposed daily tractor march to Parliament during the upcoming Winter Session, SKM core committee member Darshan Pal said.
Farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar, who is a member of Sankyukt Kisan Morcha, said on Sunday that farmers have waterproof tents but they cannot protect them from biting cold and waterlogging.
A day after protesting farmer leaders paraded a youth who claimed a plot to disrupt their January 26 tractor rally, the Haryana police on Saturday said it had found no proof to support the allegations during its probe. It said the youth had claimed that he 'cooked up' the conspiracy story under fear after some volunteers at a protest site caught him and accused him of eve teasing.
'There is nothing more this government can do now to break our agitation.' 'It has used all the tactics and has failed'
'If there is no outcome at Tuesday's meeting, then on the 30th thousands of tractors and farmers will march on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway.'
He interrupted his speech to observe a minute's silence in the House along with other Opposition leaders, mainly the Congress, to pay tribute to farmers who had lost their lives during the two month agitation.
Tomar said the union leaders kept insisting on repeal of the three farm laws, but the government side tried to explain them the benefits of the Acts and sought to know specific problems faced by the farmers.
They also said they will observe the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on January 23 as 'Azad Hind Kisan Diwas'.
Protesting farmers owing allegiance to different farmers' bodies blocked state and national highways at several places on Saturday, causing inconvenience to commuters.
Police resorted to lathicharge for a brief time to control protesters who broke barricades. Hours later, they were granted permission to enter Delhi and stage a peaceful protest at Nirankari ground in Burari.
The AIMTC supports the farmers as 65 per cent of the trucks are engaged in carrying farm produce.
The new bill will now be introduced in the Lok Sabha for passage in the upcoming Winter session of Parliament beginning November 29.
Indian government's crackdown on the protest after it turned violent on January 26 in Delhi.
Harman Preet Singh had claimed in his petition, filed through advocates Ashima Mandla and Mandakini Singh, that Delhi Police on January 27 said that it has detained over 200 persons in connection with the violence in the national capital on January 26 and 22 FIRs have also been registered thus far.
According to the police, Delhi-Ghazipur border remains closed for traffic due to the farmers' protests. The commuters are suggested to take alternate routes via Anad Vihar, Chilla, DND, Apsara, bhopra and Loni borders, it added.
The government and farmer unions have held 11 rounds of talks so far, the last being on January 22, to break the deadlock and end the farmers' protest. Talks have not resumed following widespread violence during a tractor rally by protesting farmers on January 26.
Tikait has been at loggerheads with various governments on a range of farmers' issues, including loan waivers, minimum support price, power tariff and land acquisition in states such as UP, Haryana Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh.
The announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday to repeal the three contentious farm laws is expected to bring to an end the year-long confrontation between the government and the farmers, which has left more than 700 dead in its wake.
In his monthly 'Mann ki Baat' broadcast, Modi maintained that his government is committed to "modernising" farming and has been taking many steps.
Abhay Chautala mentioned that he has resigned as farmers' demands have not been met, Gupta told reporters in Chandigarh. The 57-year-old INLD leader was the party's lone MLA in the 90-member assembly and represented the Ellenabad seat.
'The protesters took out a march carrying black flags. They burnt Prime Minister Narendra Modi's effigy while raising slogans against the three farm laws'
Dushyant has now emerged as a leader of some reckoning in the Jat community, as well among Haryana's youth.
Several trains were cancelled, highways and key roads blocked and many thousands stranded for hours on Monday as a nationwide 10-hour shutdown against the Centre's three agri laws disrupted lives across parts of India, particularly in the north.
India on Wednesday hit out at tweets by global celebrities such as singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg in support of the farmers' protests, the focus of a sharply polarised international debate that saw many Bollywood stars and top ministers rally around the government in its pushback.
Many non-NDA parties have extended support to the nationwide 10-hour strike on Monday called by farmers protesting against the three agri laws under the aegis of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM).
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