The proposed 228-km ‘Kisan Bachao Padyatra’ by farmers associated with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) was halted at the Khanauri-Data Singhwala border on Sunday after Haryana authorities stopped a 51-member group from entering the state and sealed the interstate route.
The Haryana administration had made extensive security arrangements at the Data Singhwala-Khanauri border to prevent the farmers from entering the state and proceeding towards Delhi. Jind police sealed the route with several layers of barricading, including concrete blocks, iron barriers and welded barricades. Water cannons and riot-control vehicles were deployed near the Narwana canal bridge, while security forces remained stationed along the interstate boundary. Farmer leaders, however, alleged that the administration had taken measures beyond stopping the march. They claimed that police teams had searched the homes of farmer leaders at the block level and that some activists had been placed under house arrest. The leaders termed the action an attempt to suppress their democratic right to protest. The developments have once again brought the Khanauri border into focus as a major farmers’ protest site.
Dallewal said the farmers had come prepared to remain on the road until August 28, but after being stopped by Haryana Police, they decided to stay at Khanauri and continue their protest peacefully. The location had emerged as one of the key centres of the previous farmers’ agitation that began on February 13, 2024. The protest at Khanauri continued for around 13 months before the sit-in site was cleared by Punjab Police in March 2025.
Jind superintendent of police Kuldeep Singh said the farmers would not be allowed to enter Haryana and proceed towards Delhi as they had not obtained permission for the proposed march. The death of farmer Shubhkaran Singh during the earlier agitation remains a significant issue for protesting farmers, and the farmer group’s decision to carry soil from the site of his death on Sunday underlined the continuing importance of the earlier protest in the current mobilisation.
