As the 'Delhi Chalo' agitation of farmers entered the third day on Thursday, two key border points between Delhi and Haryana remained closed for traffic, while security personnel in anti-riot gear conducted drills and mock exercises to ensure their fool-proof preparation.
Agitating farmer groups on Thursday held a four-hour nationwide 'rail roko' agitation with the railways saying there was negligible impact on services though some trains were stopped by officials at stations as a precautionary measure.
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered immediate medical aid for farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who is on an indefinite fast at the Punjab-Haryana border. The court also urged farmers to adopt the Gandhian way of protesting and to ensure that Dallewal's life is saved. The court has formed a high-powered committee to make recommendations to the stakeholders regarding the farmers' grievances.
The farmers also marched along the ambulance and demanded action against those who are responsible for his death.
Farmers' union body the Samyukta Kisan Morcha on Tuesday disassociated itself from those who indulged in violence during the tractor parade, and alleged some "antisocial elements" infiltrated their otherwise peaceful movement.
Due to a 'Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat' convened by farmers at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on Thursday, the Delhi Police has beefed up security and deployed heavy force for checking vehicles, which might lead to traffic snarls in the central parts of the city, officials said.
Punjab Police thwarted farmers' attempt to go to Chandigarh on the Samyukta Kisan Morcha's call for a week-long dharna beginning Wednesday, as multiple checkpoints were set up across the state and security stepped up at all entry points of the Union Territory.
Despite the prime minister's surprise announcement, farmer leaders have maintained the protesters won't budge until the three contentious laws are formally repealed in Parliament.
Farmers were staging a protest in Tikunia village on October 3 last year against a visit of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya when four of them were crushed under the wheels of a convoy of cars. In the subsequent violence, four others including two BJP workers and a journalist were killed.
He requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make an announcement that the farm loans would be waived, while a mechanism for the same could be worked out later.
Observing that there is a trust deficit between farmers and the government, the Supreme Court on Wednesday proposed constitution of an independent committee comprising eminent persons to reach out to the protesters to find a solution to their demands.
Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait claimed that the crops are not procured by the government as per the MSP.
A 15-member SKM delegation met with Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar at Krishi Bhawan in the afternoon and submitted a demand charter, farmer leader Darshan Pal said.
Chaduni is a member of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 40 farm unions that led an over a year-long farmers' agitation against three central agri laws, which have been repealed.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan directed the five-member committee to convene its first meeting within a week and reach out to the agitating farmers to persuade them to immediately remove their tractors, trolleys etc from the Shambhu border between Punjab and Haryana to provide relief to commuters.
A team of three Union ministers will hold talks on Monday with a delegation of farmer leaders, who are planning to march towards Delhi to press for their demands.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmer unions, will be holding a mahapanchayat in Lucknow on Monday in a show of strength days after the Prime Minister's announcement of repealing the three farm laws.
The "black ink and the deadly attack" cannot suppress the voices of farmers and labourers, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait said after ink was thrown on him in Bengaluru.
"Our call of tractor march to Parliament still stands. A final decision on the future course of the agitation and MSP issues will be taken in a meeting of the SKM at Singhu Border on Sunday," farmer leader and SKM core committee member Darshan Pal told PTI on Saturday.
Farmers protesting to press the Centre for their various demands will stay put at the two protest sites on the Punjab-Haryana border till February 29 when the next course of action will be decided, their leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said on Friday.
Electoral politics is going to be an important part of farmer protests going forward.
There will be a complete ban on gathering, processions or rallies and entry of tractor trolleys carrying people in the national capital as the Delhi Police has imposed Section 144 for a month in the view of intended widespread tension and 'social unrest' due to the farmers' 'Delhi Chalo March' on Tuesday.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmer organisations that spearheaded the 2021 protest, adopted the resolution to "intensify the fight against the policies of the Union government to save farming, food security, land and livelihoods of the people".
The Delhi government has approved the withdrawal of 17 cases registered during the anti-farm law stir, including one involving last year's Republic Day violence, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Haryana Police lobbed tear gas shells at farmers from Punjab at Shambhu border between the two states as thousands of protesters stayed put there on Wednesday, the second day of their 'Delhi Chalo' march.
The central government on Thursday sent a formal letter to the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) agreeing to accept their pending demands and prompting the farmers' body to suspend their over a yearlong agitation.
To observe one year of the movement against the Centre's three agri laws, 500 farmers will participate in a peaceful tractor march to Parliament every day during winter session starting November 29, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha said on Tuesday.
In a statement, the SKM, an umbrella body of 40 farmers' unions, said the struggle will continue to get all demands of the protesting farmers fulfilled and all announced plans are underway.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday ordered the Haryana government to remove within a week the barricading set up at the Shambhu border near Ambala where farmers have been camping since February 13 when their 'Delhi Chalo' march was stopped.
The protesting farmers have been staying put at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana after their "Delhi Chalo" march was stopped by the security forces.
The marches will also register the farmers' protest against non-fulfilment of various promises by the government, farmer leaders said.
These 22 farm bodies were among 32 farmer organisations in Punjab which participated in the over-a-year-long protest against the three central farm laws.
The heightened security measures and restrictions have been brought into place after violence on Republic Day that left 394 policemen injured and one protester dead.
The action came after a 'jatha' of 101 farmers, who resumed their foot march to Delhi shortly after 12 noon on Saturday from the Shambhu protest site on the Punjab-Haryana border, reached the barricades put up by the Haryana security personnel.
Farmers from across the states arrived at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on Monday early morning protesting over unemployment.
Tikait also said if the government continues to dismantle the resources, one day India will be known as 'Mazdoor colony' and only labour class (will be left) in the country.
A Bharatiya Janata Party MLA in Punjab was allegedly thrashed and his clothes torn by a group of farmers at Malout in Muktsar district on Saturday, police said.
Around 10 people were injured Saturday as police allegedly lathi-charged a group of farmers disrupting traffic movement on a highway while heading towards Karnal to protest against a BJP meeting.
The Haryana Police on Wednesday fired tear gas shells to disperse farmers from Punjab at Shambhu and Khanauri border points as they tried to move towards barricades stalling their protest march to Delhi.
Police on Friday used tear gas to disperse Haryana farmers heading towards Khanauri on Punjab's border with the state where farmers, mostly from Punjab, have been camping since last week after their 'Delhi Chalo' march was halted by security forces.
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