Protesting farmers from Punjab have gathered at the borders of Haryana for the past sixteen days in their attempt to march to Delhi. Now, the farmers are planning to resume their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march which was postponed till 29th February. Reportedly, the new strategy by protesters is to use cattle as shields to protect themselves from tear gas shells and bullets of the Haryana police as they breach the state.
The farmers will put their livestock forward as they cross the Haryana border to test if the Bharatiya Janta Party-led Haryana government targets cows to stop the march.
29th February is the last day for the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) Sidhupur group to delay the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march. The faction discussed their future course of action with Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Morcha on 28th February. The farmer leaders didn’t reveal their plans but according to sources the former believed that they would be able to get to Delhi once they reached Haryana.
On the other hand, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Punjab president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) accused Saravan Singh Pandher, general secretary of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Morcha of attempting to sabotage the farmers’ movement. He mentioned that the Rashtriya Samyukt Kisan Morcha has established a six-member group to work in tandem with the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh committee and the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political).
In the committee, Sarwan Singh Pandher, Satnam Singh Sahni, Mangat UP, Kaka Singh Kotra, Surjit Singh Phool and Sukhwinder Kaur were asked to make a joint plan for the struggle. However, on 27th February, Sarwan Singh Pandher, Satnam Singh Sahni and Manjit Rai organized a press conference where they falsely attacked the Samyukt Kisan Morcha leaders and their organization. They were pressured to join the front.
Meanwhile, the post-mortem of the body of Shubkaran, a young farmer from Bathinda, who died on 21st February in Khanauri of Sangrur district, could not be conducted even on the eighth day because farmer leaders camped at Rajindra Hospital in Patiala so the authorities couldn’t carry out an autopsy. However, a zero First Information Report (FIR) has been registered against unknown people in the Patan police station of Patiala district. Bhatinada and Patiala Senior Superintendents of Police Harmanbir Singh Gill and Varun Sharma respectively, compelled the protesters to take the deceased to Bathinda. Shubhkaran’s family accepted the government’s proposition of a job and one crore rupees.
Haryana police to take action against criminal elements in farmers’ protest
Notably, The Haryana police made an announcement on 28th February stating that they had started the process of cancelling the passports and visas of those who were allegedly involved in barricades breaking or causing disruptions at the Punjab border during the farmer protests. While calling them “rowdies,” Ambala Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Joginder Sharma made it clear that not all protesters engaged in such behaviour during the agitation.
He declared, “We are taking action against only those rowdies who were involved in disturbances during the farmer agitation. We have started communicating with the authorities concerned in this regard. Through CCTV or drone cameras and videography, we have identified persons engaged in breaking barricades or causing disturbances. We have also taken numerous photographs where they are seen vandalizing properties and causing disturbances through different means. We are initiating action for the cancellation of their visas and passports by accessing their photos and residential details.”