Hundreds of farmers block highways; Delhi-UP traffic hit

New Delhi: Several trains were cancelled, highways and key roads blocked and many thousands stranded for hours on Monday as a nationwide 10-hour shutdown against the Centre's three controversial agri laws disrupted lives across parts of India, particularly in the north.

The 6 am to 4 pm Bharat Bandh, which saw demonstrations and rallies in many places, passed off relatively peacefully with no reports of injuries or serious clashes. The impact was felt the most around Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, the centre of the farm protests, and also in large pockets of Kerala, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha.

Protesters blocked highways and arterial roads and squatted on tracks in several places from the morning as the shutdown called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 40 farmer unions, got underway. The blockade was lifted at 4 pm.

The SKM claimed in a statement that its call for a shutdown had received an "unprecedented and historic" response from more than 23 states and not a single untoward incident was reported from anywhere.

"Reports have been pouring in about the overwhelmingly positive and resounding response to the Bharat Bandh call to mark 10 months of peaceful protests with rightful demands from the 'annadaatas' of the country," it said.

The day marks one year since President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the three controversial laws and 10 months since thousands of farmers set up camp at Delhi's border points to voice their protest.

Looking ahead, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said at an online discussion that a solution could only be reached through dialogue and not in the courts.

Tikait also issued a statement to say that the response had shown their protest is a pan India one. The agitation, he said, can end today if the Centre agrees to a rollback.

Though life in large parts of India was unhindered by the shutdown, north India felt the impact with about 25 trains being affected and massive jams that prevented the cross border movement of commuters as well as trucks carrying essentials. Hundreds of cars were stacked bumper-to bumper along the Gurgaon-Delhi border on Monday morning as the vehicles entering the national Capital were being checked by Delhi Police in wake of the strike. A few hours later, massive rows of stationary traffic, with vehicles closely tailing each other, were seen to be clearing up.

Earlier, Delhi Police had said that the "security will be preventive". "There is no call for Bharat Bandh in Delhi, but we are watching the developments and adequate number of personnel will be on ground," the police said. Autorickshaws and taxis are operating normally in Delhi and shops were open, with their unions and associations extending only "in-principle support" to the strike.

Traffic movement at the Ghazipur border was hit as well and the Delhi Traffic Police closed vehicular movement on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh Ghazipur border. The Delhi Noida Direct (DND) flyway also witnessed massive traffic congestion.

Delhi itself was mostly unaffected, but there was chaos at its borders with traffic snarls that stretched through much of the day and commuters who couldn't get to office, or college or even to that important doctor's appointment.

While there were instances of unwell patients being let through, among those stuck at the Delhi-Gurgaon border was a man who couldn't make it for his appointment at the Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon. Farmers blocked other roads leading into the national Capital, including at Ghazipur in western Uttar Pradesh. Not far away in Sonipat in Haryana, some farmers squatted on tracks. In nearby Patiala in Punjab, too, members of the BKU-Ugrahan sat on the tracks to register their protest. Punjab saw a complete shutdown in many places, including Moga where farmers blocked national highways. Farmer leaders from Punjab have, in many ways, spearheaded the year-long protest.

"#I Stand With Farmers & appeal the Union Govt. to repeal the three anti-farmer laws. Our farmers have been struggling for their rights since more than a year & it is high time that their voice is heard," Punjab's new Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said in a tweet.

According to the SKM, people gathered at more than 500 locations in Punjab to express their support to the bandh.

In neighbouring Haryana, highways in Sirsa, Fatehabad and Kurukshetra were blocked.

There were also reports of farmers squatting on rail tracks at a few places in the two states.

"More than 20 locations are being blocked in Delhi, Ambala, and Ferozepur divisions. About 25 trains are affected due to this," a Northern Railway spokesperson said.

Many non-NDA parties extended support to the bandh, including the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party, Telugu Desam Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Left parties and Swaraj India. The YSR Congress government in Andhra Pradesh had also announced support to the Bharat Bandh.

In West Bengal, life was largely unaffected but activists blocked roads and railway tracks in many places. Images from Kolkata showed protesters swarming a section of a railway track. The ruling Trinamool Congress said it supported the demands of the SKM. Elsewhere in the region, vehicular movement was impacted and shops shut in several places in Jharkhand, including in the state capital Ranchi and Dumka. Road blockades led to congestion on key highways.

In Bihar and Odisha, too, there was a mixed response. In Odisha, reports came in of protests at different places, including in Bhubaneswar where demonstrators blocked the track at the Bhubaneswar station. In Kerala, where the strike was supported by the ruling LDF and the opposition Congress-led UDF, KSRTC bus services were off the road with almost all trade unions in the state taking part.

All emergency establishments and essential services, including hospitals, medical stores, relief and rescue work and people attending to personal emergencies were exempted from the strike. Expressing support for protesting farmers, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the farmers' non-violent 'Satyagraha' is still resolute.

Posting rhyming lines in Hindi on Twitter, Gandhi said: "Kisano ka ahimsak satyagraha aaj bhi akhand hai, lekin shoshankar sarkar ko ye nahi pasand hai, isliye aaj Bharat Bandh hai (Farmers' non-violent satyagraha is resolute even today, but the exploitative government does not like this and that's why it is Bharat Bandh today)."

The government and farmer unions have held 11 rounds of talks so far, the last being on January 22, to break the deadlock and end the farmers' protest. Talks have not resumed following widespread violence during a tractor rally by protesting farmers on January 26.