ghaziabad: Hundreds of farmers on Monday staged a protest under the Bharatiya Kisan Union at the Delhi-Ghaziabad border here after police stopped them from entering the Capital to continue their march to Parliament Street, raising their voice against agricultural policies of the government.
Around 10 am on Monday, the farmers started their march on foot with some trucks and tractors towards Delhi from Kavi Nagar in Ghaziabad. The farmers had reached UP Gate at 12:30 pm where they were stopped by the Delhi
Police.
The farmers then started a sit-in demonstration at the UP Gate itself blocking the NH-9 for over four hours. Police forces from Ghaziabad and Delhi, besides paramilitary and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) stood guard at the border and did not allow anyone to enter Delhi.
These farmers had gathered from Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor and Shamli, besides Uttarakhand. Farmers from Haryana's Ambala, Kurukshetra and Karnal were stopped at Narela, workers said. Ghaziabad police had to divert traffic while a heavy police force has been deployed at the border to maintain law and order.
BKU national media in-charge Dharmendra Malik said, "The workers were going to protest on Parliament Street in protest against the three agricultural ordinances being introduced in Parliament. Preventing farmers from demonstrating peacefully is a murder of democracy and this proves how autocratic the government is."
"If the government brings any law in relation to any sector, then talking to the representatives of that area is also a government's duty. Around 500 farmers of BKU under the leadership of national spokesman Rakesh Tikait staged the protest for over four hours at Ghazipur border," Malik added. Later, on Delhi Police's request, a delegation went to Krishi Bhavan with a memorandum of their demands, Malik said.
Interestingly, Ghaziabad police claimed it had no information that the farmers would try to go to Delhi via NH-9. Noida police informed Ghaziabad police about the movement on Monday.