Farmers Protest : Refusing to shift to Burari ground agitation continues on Delhi borders

New Delhi: Refusing to accept the Centre’s offer to shift to the Burari ground in north-west Delhi to hold their proposed protest against the three central farm laws, thousands of farmers continued to rally for the third consecutive day on Sunday at Delhi’s three interstate border points.

As the farmers continued to protest peacefully by shouting slogans against the government at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur entry/exit points on the Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Bahadurgarh and Delhi-Uttar Pradesh routes respectively, their numbers were swelling as more and more farmers were arriving at the spots.

It was learnt that the farmers had been instructed to stay put where they were till further instructions. Even BKU leader Rakesh Tikait said that they have also decided to stay at Ghazipur. “We will not leave this spot. We will not move to Burari. The Centre should come forward and listen to the farmers,” he added.

The farmers were adamant on their demand that the Centre revoke the three farm laws to end the impasse, though they were not clear about their next course of action as leaders of multiple farmers’ unions were holding meetings since Sunday morning to mull their future strategy.

After braving two chilly winter nights under the open skies, the undeterred farmers began another round of sloganeering against the central government as the sun rose on the horizon. Even as heavy security bandobast was in place, the farmers did not try to enter Delhi despite the authorities allowing them to move to the Burari ground in north-west Delhi, where only half of the around 1,000 or so farmers who were staying put since Friday evening were present on Sunday afternoon.

While leaders of farm unions were busy meeting to come up with their future course of action, others were busy addressing the farmers rallying at the borders in chaste Punjabi through loudspeakers about their demand.

As per police estimates, the number of protesters from the Left-leaning BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) could be between 1.5 lakh and 2 lakh, including a sizable number of youngsters and women.