Haryana security personnel fired teargas shells and used a water cannon to disperse a group of protesting farmers from heading towards Delhi at the Shambhu border point on Saturday.
A few farmers who were injured were taken to a nearby hospital in ambulances stationed at the protest site, officials said. The action came after a ’jatha’ (group) of 101 farmers, who resumed their foot march to Delhi shortly after 12 noon on Saturday from the Shambhu protest site on the Punjab-Haryana border, reached the barricades put up by the Haryana security personnel.
The farmers are pressing the Centre for various demands, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
Earlier, Ambala Deputy Commissioner Parth Gupta and Ambala Superintendent of Police S S Bhoria engaged in talks with some protesting farmers for over half an hour, trying to convince them to get permission from Delhi for going towards the national capital. However, the farmers were adamant about going to Delhi and urged the security personnel to proceed.
Soon after walking for a few metres, the group was stopped at the barricading by Haryana security personnel, including paramilitary forces.
“We want to go ahead in a peaceful manner. Our voices should not be crushed like this. More than half of the country’s population is connected with agriculture; their voice cannot be suppressed,” a farmer leader argued with the Haryana officials on the other side of the barricades.
“We are marching on foot in a peaceful manner, therefore, we should be allowed to proceed. We want the government to listen to the problems of farmers and labourers. We want to go to Delhi in a peaceful manner,” the leader said.
Ambala’s Superintendent of Police S S Bhoria told the farmers that they should take permission from the authorities concerned if they intend to protest in Delhi. “We will ourselves help you reach there,” he said.
The spot where you are standing in protest, according to the Supreme Court order of July 24, directions were issued to maintain status quo at Shambhu border so that no untoward incident occurs, Bhoria told them.
Appealing to the protesting farmers to move back, Bhoria referred to the apex court, saying a high-powered committee constituted by it would talk to the protesting farmers and make recommendations to the court.
“Farmers should not get violent and do peaceful agitation. They should adopt the Gandhian way of protests because their grievances are being looked into,” a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan had said on Friday.
The bench had directed the Centre and Punjab government representatives to immediately meet Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who is observing a fast unto death.
Ambala Deputy Commissioner Parth Gupta told the protesters that the matter was sub-judice, and the next date of hearing has been fixed for December 18.
This is the third attempt by the protesting farmers to march towards the national capital from the Shambhu border point. They had made similar attempts on December 6 and December 8 but were not allowed to proceed by security personnel in Haryana.
The farmers under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) have been pressing for various demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP. They have also been pressing the Centre to initiate talks with them to address their issues.
The Ambala district administration has already clamped a prohibitory order under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) that bans the unlawful assembly of five or more people in the district.
Earlier in the day, the Haryana government suspended mobile internet and bulk SMS services in 12 villages in Ambala till December 17.
The order to suspend mobile internet in Dangdehri, Lehgarh, Manakpur, Dadiyana, Bari Ghel, Choti Ghel, Lharsa, Kalu Majra, Devi Nagar (Hira Nagar, Naresh Vihar), Saddopur, Sultanpur, and Kakru villages in Ambala was issued to prevent any disturbance of peace and public order.
Meanwhile, farmer leader Dallewal’s fast unto death at the Khanauri border point entered the 19th day on Saturday. Doctors have already recommended his hospitalisation, saying that because of the prolonged fast, he has turned weak. However, the protesting farmers have formed a security ring around Dallewal so that the state authorities could not remove him from the protest site.
The Punjab Police had forcibly removed Dallewal from the Khanauri border point on November 26, just hours before he was going to start his fast unto death. On Friday, SKM leader Rakesh Tikait met Dallewal and also called for the unity of farmers’ groups for a “joint fight.”
Dallewal has been on a fast unto death at the Khanauri border between Punjab and Haryana since November 26 to press the Centre to accept the agitating farmers’ demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP on crops.
Farmers under the banner of SKM (Non-Political) and KMM have been camping at Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.
Besides a legal guarantee on MSP for crops, the farmers are demanding a debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in the electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases, and “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
Reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21 are also part of their demands.
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