Thousands of farmers from Punjab who set off for the National Capital on Tuesday to protest the proposed India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) called off their march after police prevented them from entering Delhi and following an assurance of talks with the central government, people familiar with the development said.
Event Context
This occurred after a several-hour standoff at the heavily fortified Shambhu border. Organised under the aegis of the Desh Bachao Morcha, the march aimed to reach Delhi’s Kisan Ghat to protest the proposed India-US trade deal, which farmers claim would hurt Indian agriculture by opening the domestic market to cheaper imports.
The farmers spent Monday night at the sarai (inn) of Gurdwara Sri Fatehgarh Sahib and departed in the morning. From the gurdwara, they first reached Madhopur near Sirhind on GT Road, and then proceeded towards Shambhu, where they were stopped.
Meanwhile, sealing of the border point caused grave inconvenience to road commuters. Ahead of the farmers’ protest, Haryana Police had issued a traffic advisory, asking commuters to take the Ambala Cantonment-Chandigarh-Lalru-Dera Bassi-Zirakpur route for Punjab. Those going to Delhi from Punjab were told to take the Rajpura-Lalru-Dera Bassi-Zirakpur-Ambala Cantonment route.
By the evening, Haryana authorities had begun removing barricades and cement blocks from the Shambhu border point. They said traffic on the Ambala-Amritsar national highway will resume soon.
In February 2024, similar barricading was carried out when farmers announced a march to Delhi to press the Centre for a legal guarantee for the minimum support price of their crops.
Farmers call off protest at Khanauri border
SANGRUR Farmers associated with BKU (Ekta Azad) called off their strike near the Khanauri border between Punjab and Haryana after the detained activists were released.
The protesters from Punjab were on their way to Delhi to participate in a scheduled one-day demonstration to voice their opposition to a recent India–US trade deal. Jaswinder Singh Longowal, the state president of BKU (Ekta Azad), said that the protest started at around 7.30am and it concluded at 5.30pm as the union was demanding the release of the farmers who had been detained. He said that farmers were forced to sit on the roads as police stopped them.
He said that negotiations were held with authorities at both the Khanauri and Shambu border points. He said that the sit-in protest at Khanauri was officially called off around 5.30pm after authorities released the detained farmers.
Team Analysis
Sanju Gundiana, Yamunanagar district president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) (Charuni), said they were stopped at Gharaunda, from where they were brought back to the Bastara toll plaza in buses.
Match Outlook
However, their protest was suspended after farmer representatives held talks with Haryana agriculture minister Shyam Singh Rana. He assured them that their two key demands—the release of farmers detained in Delhi and Haryana during the course of the protest and a meeting with Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan—will be met.
Speaking to reporters, Rana said the memorandum would be forwarded to the appropriate authority so the issues could be resolved. Talking to HT, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said both the demands raised by the protesters had been accepted.
“…Since both demands have been accepted, we have called off our march to Delhi,” Pandher said. Meanwhile, a large number of farmers from Ambala and Kurukshetra who attempted to reach Delhi were detained by the police at various locations in Kurukshetra. The district administrations in Ambala and Kurukshetra imposed Section 163 of BNSS to maintain law and order.
Meanwhile, Gurnam Singh Charuni, who was detained by the Kurukshetra police on Monday, lashed out at the Union government and said, “They are going to hand over the food security of the nation to other countries which will have devastating results. The government doubted that we may join the ongoing protest of the Cockroach Janta Party at Jantar Mantar. We support them, but we had a Mahapanchayat at Kisan Ghat.”
