UPDATED: January 31, 2021 10:44 IST
(Photograph by Chandradeep Kumar)
The runaway show of strength on January 26, leading to incidents of violence in the capital and the siege of the Red Fort, has forced the protesting farmers on the back foot. It has also broken their ranks, with several farm leaders who were committed-as agreed in negotiations with the government-to a peaceful tractor rally on Republic Day, straining to distance themselves from the renegade leaders. This lot, they insist, hijacked plans to continue the peaceful resistance till the government yielded to their demand for a repeal, nothing less, of the contentious new farm laws. Fearing that the violent incidents on the day may have cost them public sympathy and realising fully well that the police and government will plan retribution, the Samyunkt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella grouping of 40-odd farmer outfits participating in these protests, has publicly withdrawn its plan to march to Parliament on Budget day (F
Heavy police deployment at UP Gate after protesters stood their ground. (Photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)
NEW DELHI: A standoff built up through Thursday between police and protesters at UP Gate on Delhi’s Ghazipur border after the UP government ordered farmers camping there to be vacated and Bharatiya Kisan Union’s Tikait faction, the outfit leading the sit-in agitation at the site, dug in its heels and announced it would move the Supreme Court on Friday against the attempt to evict the protesters.
BKU leader Rakesh Tikait, who held fort at UP Gate as tension rose after the protesters were served a notice by the Ghaziabad administration to leave and a heavy police contingent moved in, said, “The Supreme Court has not raised any objections to peaceful protest. No violence has taken place here (at UP Gate). I will challenge the order in the Supreme Court on Friday.”
Fissures among farmers in the aftermath of R-Day violence
January 27, 2021
Farmers and their supporters listen to a leader’s speech during the ongoing protest at Tikri border, a day after the farmers’ tractor rally, in New Delhi, on Wednesday - PTI
Farmers and their supporters listen to a leader’s speech during the ongoing protest at Tikri border, a day after the farmers’ tractor rally, in New Delhi, on Wednesday - PTI×
Two unions walk out of the protest; Budget Day rally called off Following the Republic Day violence, two farmers’ unions dissociated from the ongoing protests while the rest, organised under the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), said there was a “conspiracy” to defame a two-month-long peaceful peasant movement by the Centre, anti-social elements and groups that had associated with the struggle. The SKM has called off its Budget Day march to Parliament on February 1 in the light of the Republic Day events.
When the Red Fort was breached
January 26, 2021
A farmer holds a sword during a protest against farm laws at the historic Red Fort in Delhi, on Tuesday - REUTERS
A farmer holds a sword during a protest against farm laws at the historic Red Fort in Delhi, on Tuesday - REUTERS×
Protesters marching to the Fort and unfurling flags invite widespread condemnation
The historic Red Fort became the epicentre of unprecedented protests on Tuesday with splinter groups of protesters from the farm movement hoisting the Sikh religious flag, Nishan Sahib, at the venue where Independence Day celebrations take place every year. But by late evening, the surging crowds that totalled up to about 80-90,000 protesters, had started dispersing with their leaders urging them to go back to their original sit-in sites at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur border.