Ghaziabad: To ratchet up pressure on the government, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) has decided to send representatives to protest against the new central farming laws during the monsoon session of Parliament. All farmer unions under the SKM grouping, which has been spearheading the seven-month-long agitation, will send five members each every day while Parliament is in session, according to the protest plan.
“We will also send letters to all opposition MPs to raise farmers’ issues in Parliament from the day the session starts,” said Jagtar Singh Bajwa, a member of the protest committee at UP Gate, which is one of the three main agitation sites alongside the Singhu and Tikri borders. “If the 40 unions under SKM send 5 representatives each, there will be 200 protesting farmers outside Parliament every day,” added Bajwa. The monsoon session begins July 19.
Ghaziabad: Farmers at UP Gate and BJP workers, who had gathered at the border to welcome the party’s newly-appointed state secretary Amit Valmiki, clashed at the protest site on Wednesday morning. While the BJP alleged that several of its workers were injured,
Rakesh Tikait’s Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) claimed there was a bid to malign the outfit and that the party had tried to provoke the farmers and capture the protest stage.
“We had gathered near the Hindon elevated road to welcome our leader Amit Valmiki. As his cavalcade was passing through, the farmers got enraged after seeing the BJP workers carrying the party flags. Rakesh Tikait’s men, who were on the other side of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, chased us and attacked us with sticks and swords,” alleged Yashpal Pehelwan, BJP councillor from ward number 10.