Farmers observe 'black day' to mark 6 months of protests
New Delhi: Vowing to continue their stir till the farm laws are repealed, agitating farmers marched with black flags, burnt effigies and shouted anti-government slogans at Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur protest sites on Delhi borders as well as in several parts of Punjab and Haryana to mark the completion of six months of their agitation.
Black flags were put atop houses and on vehicles by people and leaders of opposition parties to observe 'Black Day' on Wednesday on a call by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella outfit of farmer unions that is spearheading the stir against the laws that were enacted in September last year by the Centre.
Authorities maintained a tight vigil and urged people not to gather in view of the ongoing COVID restrictions.
A brief ruckus was reported at the Ghazipur protest site on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border where police tried to stop protesters from burning an effigy.
If laws can be made amid the COVID pandemic, why cannot they be repealed, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait said while addressing hundreds of protestors at the site where COVID-19 protocols on social distancing and face masks were largely amiss.
"The movement will continue for a long time," the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader said.
Twelve major opposition parties, including the Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), TMC, the Left, SP, NCP and DMK had on Sunday backed the protest call.
SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and Congress MP Digvijaya Singh were among the leaders who raised black flags at their residence and urged the central government to accept the demand of protesting farmers.
At the Singhu border, protestors gathered at the Kajaria Tiles office, held meetings, and took out a march towards the stage. Protesters donned black turbans and dupattas and burnt an effigy.
In Punjab, protests were held at many places including Amritsar, Muktsar, Moga, Tarn Taran, Sangrur and Bathinda.
Punjab AAP leaders including two legislators Kultar Singh Sandhwan and Meet Hayer held a protest outside Punjab Raj Bhawan Later, they were removed by the Chandigarh Police.
Similar scenes were reported from a few places in neighbouring Haryana as farmers held protests in Ambala, Hisar, Sirsa, Karnal, Rohtak, Jind, Bhiwani, Sonipat and Jhajjar.
Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday claimed that people of the country were angry over the insult meted out to protesting farmers due to the government's "ego".
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin urged the Centre to withdraw the farm laws by accepting the demands of farmers and said his party's poll promise of passing a resolution against these legislations in the Assembly would be fulfilled.
The NCP took a swipe at the Centre, saying it was under the impression that farmers, who have been agitating at Delhi borders against three agriculture laws for the last six months, would get tired and give up their protest.
Farmer leader Avtar Singh Mehma said that the government shouldn't have introduced the three laws during the pandemic in the first place.
"If the government wants us to go back then it should listen to us and repeal the laws because we are not going anywhere unless our demands are met.
"It is not our hobby to sit in the heat and the cold at the borders. We also want to go back home and be safe," the farmer leader said.
Police force has been in deployed at all the border points, including the protest sites of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, since Tuesday.
At Ghazipur, hundreds of farmers led by Tikait converged. A scuffle broke out between protestors and the local police, donning anti-riot gears, who tried to stop them from burning the effigy at the UP Gate below the Delhi-Meerut Expressway.
While many BKU supporters held black flags in their hands, several others had placards that condemned the government and demanded the withdrawal of the contentious laws.
