At Jaipur Highway, ‘Ready’ Farmers Await Call to March Toward Delhi

Shahjahanpur/Alwar: A day after negotiations with the Centre failed to resolve the impasse yet again, simmering anxieties over whether or not - and when - to advance toward the national capital seemed accentuated among the farmers present at the protest site on the Delhi-Jaipur expressway.

On Tuesday, farmers awaited a call from the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) leadership over the next step of their  sit-in protest that had begun last month when the marching farmers, mainly from Rajasthan and south Haryana districts, were stopped at the inter-state borders of these two states -- near Rajasthan’s Shahjahanpur village, some 130km away from the national capital.

Some farmers said the wait “felt long enough” because what was once a “morcha” with huge participation had now spread across the highway stretch after a section of protesters didn’t wait for the leadership’s decision last week, and instead made their way toward Delhi.

Stepping up pressure on the Narendra Modi government to repeal the reform-oriented farm legislations and provide cultivators across the country a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP), thousands of farmers are sitting on the outskirts of Delhi -- at the borders -- for over 40 days now.

SKM, the umbrella body leading the ongoing agitation, had earlier hinted that the farmers staying put at the Jaipur highway would be forced to resort to breaking the police barriers and march toward the national capital in a move to “intensify” their protests against the controversial farm laws.

This was so as the leaders had little hope of any breakthrough in the deadlock in their negotiations with the Centre, as they felt that the government was not “serious” about paying heed to the farmers’ major demands.

On Monday, the seventh round of talks once again failed to bring the government panel and protesting farmer outfits on the same page. Both parties, however, agreed to meet again on January 8.

Ramprasad Jahangir, a farm leader from Rajasthan , who was present at the Shahjahanpur protest site, told NewsClick on Tuesday that the farmers were “fully ready” to march ahead toward Delhi. “All we are awaiting is a call from the core committee, consisting of SKM leaders,” he said.

“Har border par kisan jahan morcha laga kar baitha hua hai, vahi par data rahega. Hum peeche nahi hatenge. Jahan tak baat aage badne ki hai, uska decision hamne apni leadership par chhod rakha hai,” the Rajasthan state committee member of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) said.

Nirmal Kumar, another AIKS leader from Rajasthan, however, indicated that any such advancement won’t take place before January 26. “If the upcoming talks with the Centre also remain inconclusive then the farmers from here will march toward Delhi, “to join Republic Day's tractor parade,” he told Newsclick.

The seven-member coordination committee of SKM, in a press conference held in Delhi’s Press Club of India last week, had announced that the protesting farmers would march “on the roads of the national capital” on January 26 (Republic Day).

“When farmers from every protest area begin their march to enter Delhi, we will start from here two hours before to join them,” Kumar said.

Even as this sentiment was shared by almost everyone, a section of farmers who had come from Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh and Sri Ganganagar district managed to break barriers set up by Haryana police and marched ahead on the afternoon of December 31. They were joined by farmers from Haryana’s Bawal and nearby Jhajjar district, who were demonstrating near the Bawal Chowk since December 14.

The farmers were reportedly faced tear gas and chilli grenades, bringing back memoires of  how the marching farmers were treated and baton-charged back in November last year when a ‘Delhi Chalo’ call was given.

Jasveer Singh, 65, from Sri Ganganagar’s Gharsana told Newsclick that “some youth”, swayed by “emotions”, went ahead without the “leadership’s confidence.” That doesn’t mean however, as Singh stressed, that “they are not with us.”

Singh, who was part of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti, chose to stay back at the Shahjahanpur border. Another protester who introduced himself as Jeet Singh from the same village, however, estimated that “around a thousand” tractors had already passed ahead.

“We are staying here and providing them with langar; there is daily communication between them and us,” Singh claimed, adding that the “lost understanding” has now been ironed out.

Rajkumar Meena, 35, agreed with him. Last week, he was among those who passed through the police barriers, only to be stopped again near Rewari’s Bhudla village. “We again decided to march ahead toward  Delhi (on January 3) but were stopped by the police,” he said, facing the kerb stones and shipping containers that were placed on the underpass that run across the Sohna-Rewari flyover, near Masani village, some 30km away from the Shahjahanpur border protest site.

“Jo bhi faisala hoga unions ka uska hi ab hum bhi wait kar rahe hai,”  ( We are witing for our unions to decide) he told NewsClick.

Surjeet Mehlawat, 36, who was at Bawal Chowk earlier, reiterated the same.  “We are now going to stay here only; the police has blocked both the roads. We will wait for our brothers from Shahjahanpur border to join us,” he said.

On Tuesday, scenes similar to other border protest sites in Delhi, played out at this newly formed protest site, too — a langar for protesters, tents in a row and mattresses inside tractors and trolleys, along with desi geysers.

Meanwhile, traffic remained a mess across the highway as batches of police personnel, along with barricades, were deployed at multiple strategic points  near Dharuhera village and Manesar’s, ostensibly in anticipation of things getting flared up in the days to come. Vehicle movement was allowed only through diversions inside the villages across the highway.

On Tuesday, at a press conference from Singhu border, a twice-rescheduled tractor rally was called for January 7. “Nearly 500 tractors from [Rajasthan’s] Sikar will be joining us tomorrow for the rally,” Kumar of AIKS informed the NewsClick at Shahjahanpur border.