Comments Deep Sidhu Murdabad , Lakha Sidhana Murdabad were the slogans chanted by a section of the protesting farmers, a day after the tractor rally on 26 January ended in a fiasco at Delhi s Red Fort.
For the farm unions coordinating the protests and negotiating with the government, actor Deep Sidhu and gangster-turned-activist Lakha Sidhana have emerged as the villains of what happened at the Red Fort. A few other names that often come up are Sikh scholar Sukhpreet Udhoke, singer Bir Singh and Baba Raja Singh.
A slightly different case is that of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee and its leader Sarwan Singh Pandher, who had announced that his organisation will not adhere to the tractor rally routes decided by the police and insisted on taking out a rally on Delhi s Outer Ring Road.
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.
Young radicals hijacked the tractor parade
January 26, 2021
Farmers and police personnel clash near ITO Chowk in New Delhi on Tuesday - MOORTHY RV
Farmers and police personnel clash near ITO Chowk in New Delhi on Tuesday - MOORTHY RV×
The police were hopelessly outnumbered and the farmer leaders failed to prevent the violence
“We will enter Delhi at 8 am and we will march on the Ring Road,” declared Sarwan Singh Pandher of the Kisan Majdoor Sangharsh Committee on the Republic Day eve, even as his organisation of young, radical protesters refused to accept both the rally route and the timing set for the tractor parade by the police. It was clear 24 hours in advance of the tractor parade that the younger, angrier elements among several lakh protesters were straining at the limits set by their elders.