Farmers’ protest: Chaos at Delhi borders amid tear gas firing, stone pelting; cops detain many protesters

Police officials fired tear gas to disperse protesting farmers at the Punjab-Haryana Shambhu border on Tuesday to stop them from marching to the capital city to hold protests after the five-hour meeting with the cabinet ministers a day before remained inconclusive. The protesters have been pressing for a law guaranteeing minimum support pricefor crops, loan waiver and other demands.

The protesting farmers tried to move towards the barricade in their efforts tocross over the Haryana-Punjab Shambhu border and even forcibly removed the cement barricades with their tractors.

As the police continued to firemultiple rounds of tear gas, protesting farmers dispersed and entered inside farmlands on theborder. The protesters were later detained by Haryana Police at Shambu border amid chaos.Stones werebeing pelted at security personnel by protesting farmers,said aHaryana Police spokesperson.

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The ministers failed to reach any resolution on themain demands of the farmers, one of them being alaw to guarantee a Minimum Support Price for all crops.India's Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda, along with Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal held the meeting with the farmers.

After 11 pm local time on Feb 12 (Monday), both sides agreed to repeal the Electricity Act 2020 and also decided on the withdrawal of cases filed against farmers during the movement as well as compensation to farmers who were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

However, they failed to reach a consensus on three key demands - farmer loan waiver, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendations and enactment of a law for guaranteeing a Minimum Support Price for all crops.

Also Read:India: Haryana government suspends internet services in several districts ahead of farmers' march

After the meeting came to an end, Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee's Sarwan Singh Pandher announced that the 'Delhi Chalo' march was on.

"Two years ago, the government had promised to meet half of our demands in writing... We wanted to resolve the issue peacefully. But the government is not sincere. They just want to waste time," said a farmers' representativewhile speaking to the reporters.

How FarmerProtest 2.0 differs from the 2020 stir?

In 2020, the farmers were protesting against the three laws which were finally repealed in 2021.

In 2023, 'Delhi Chalo' was announced with the demand of a legal guarantee to MSP for all crops, full debt waiver for farmers, the implementation of Swaminathan Commission's formula,withdrawal of cases filed against farmers during the 2020-21 protest, and pension for farmers and labourers.

Various unions have been spearheading the farmers'protest 2.0 as the landscape of the farmers' unions has changed in the last few years.

Delhi Chalo 2.0 has been announced by Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha.

Samyukt Kisan Morcha and Bharatiya Kisan Union, which led the 2020 protest of the farmers, went through turbulence and split into several factions.

Watch:India: More than 200 farmers' union announce March on Feb 13, police impose precautionary measures

Rakesh Tikait and Gurnam Singh Charuni were the two main leaders who led the 2020 protest. However, they are missing from theprotest this year so far.

Sarwan Singh Pandher, general secretary of Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committeeand Jagjit Singh Dallewal, leader of SKM (non-political) are at the forefront now.

In 2020, the farmers had entered the national capital. However, this time the administration has adopted strict pre-emptive measures to stop them from entering Delhi.

They have used nails on roads, cement barricades and barbed wire to block all routes to Delhi. The government has imposed Section 144 across the capital. The Haryana government has also sealed its borders along with Punjab.

The negotiation process before the start of the farmers' Delhi Chalo march was initiated by the government but remained unfruitful. The farmers' protest becomes crucial as general elections are just few months away.

Meanwhile, commuters inDelhi-NCR bore the brunt of the farmers' protest as traffic slowed to a crawl amid heavy barricading at Singhu, Tikri, and Ghazipur borders.

(With inputs from agencies)