Farmers return to protest sites in thousands
April 22, 2021
Some farmers had gone back to their villages for the harvest - SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA×
Defiant farmers to kickstart ‘Operation Shakti’ amid fears of eviction due to the Covid-19 surge Contrary to expectations that farmers who had gone back to their villages for the harvest are unlikely to return to protest sites due to Covid-19 surge, are actually coming back in droves according to the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) and Samyukt Kisan Morcha on Thursday.
‘Operation Shakti’
BKU (EU) leader Pavel Kussa told
BusinessLine that about 20,000 farmers had reached Tikri by late evening on Thursday. “Some of them have come back, leaving the harvest midway, while some have completed the harvest. The suppression, the Centre was about to unleash in the name of Covid-19, is the reason for their joining the protests again. Their return will further strengthen the agitation,” Kussa said.
April 15, 2021
Farmers sitting in protest against the farm laws at the Singhu border, in New Delhi - Sushil Kumar Verma
Farmers sitting in protest against the farm laws at the Singhu border, in New Delhi - Sushil Kumar Verma×
‘If the government wants to adopt a humanitarian approach, they should provide free vaccination in Tikri, Singhu’ Even as Delhi is facing an extraordinary surge in Covid-19 cases, farmers protesting at the Singhu and Tikri borders say they follow stringent social distancing norms, have set up vaccination facilities at the protest sites and are urging governments in Haryana and Punjab to initiate vaccine drives.
Differences surface as human rights issues highlighted during farmers agitation By Harsh Thakor. Dated: 12/17/2020 1:49:26 PM
“Leaders insisted on the need to guard against the agitation being identified with Sikh militancy in order to communalise it”
As intensity of the farmers’ resistance in Delhi surges, one wonders whether it has the potential of adding a new chapter in the history of protests in India. Indeed, never before in recent past have the rulers been embarrassed to such as extent as they seem to be have been during the current farmers’ agitation.
One could witness how the unity of varying farmers’ organizations the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) factions of Ugrahan, Rakewal, Dakaunda and the Kirti Kisan Union is tightening the noose around the Centre’s refusal accept their main demand, to take back the three farm bills.