In the run-up to Republic Day, there is a full slate of protests being planned. The festival of Lohri, on January 13, will be marked as Kisan Sankalp Diwas by burning the copies of the three laws that farmers want repealed. January 18 will be celebrated as Mahila Kisan Diwas to underline the role of women farmers. On Subhash Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary on January 23, farmers will protest at the Raj Bhawans in all State capitals.
“We have been peacefully protesting for so long. But this government has an ego problem. We have always told the government that it has only two options to either repeal the three laws or use force on us to evict us,” said Balbir Singh Rajewal, a Punjab farmer leader who heads his own faction of the Bharatiya Kisan Union. “We intend to stay peaceful, we will not engage in any confrontation. But if the government chooses to use the police, that is their choice,” he added.