Farmers stage symbolic tractor march on Delhi-Meerut road

The ongoing protest at Shambhu Border near Haryana-Punjab border is led by SKM (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee Morcha

Hundreds of farmers including those from the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) took out a symbolic tractor march on Monday to press for making a law on minimum support price (MSP), and loan waiver among other demands while queuing up their tractors on the Delhi Meerut Road in Ghaziabad.

Demonstrators on tractors travel along the Noida-Delhi Expressway during the protest organised by Bhartiya kisan Union (Tikait) farmers. (Sunil Ghosh /HT Photo)

According to police, the farmers belonged to local villages along the Delhi Meerut Road who lined up their tractors in the afternoon below the Duhai interchange of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway.

The tractors were lined up on the Meerut-Ghaziabad side of the Delhi Meerut Road and the police ensured that there was no hindrance of traffic, it said.

“The protest lasted for about two hours and the farmers dispersed by 2.30pm. We had secured nine border points with Baghpat, Meerut and Hapur while some internal points in Modinagar, Loni and Muradnagar were also secured by the police. The protest remained peaceful,” said Vivek Chandra Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (rural).

The protest was symbolic and they lined up their tractors with the front side facing towards Delhi, said farmers.

“We wish to tell the government to accept the demands raised by the protesting farmers at the Shambhu Border. The tractors were lined up on Delhi Meerut Road and this symbolised that if the demands are not met, tractors can even move towards the borders of Delhi,” said Shamsher Rana, media coordinator from Tikait-led Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU).

On February 21, farmers and supporters of the BKU arrived at the Ghaziabad district headquarters and staged a protest pressing for their demands.

On February 16, a call was given for “Grameen Bandh” (rural shutdown) in which farmers and workers stayed away from work for a day.

The tractor march protest was the third such protest call given by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SMK) – an umbrella body of farmers’ unions which led the 2020-21 protests on the borders of Delhi.

The ongoing protest at Shambhu Border near Haryana-Punjab border is led by SKM (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee Morcha (KMM).

The SKM (non-political) is a group which assumed an independent identity after it split from the SKM after the 2020-21 agitation ended. The SKM is only lending moral support to the protest taken up by SKM (non-political) and KMM.

“Small protest calls given (by the SKM) after a gap of days will not solve the purpose and cause of farmers. The fight has to be united for the cause of farmers. Otherwise, small protests will not have any impact,” said Rajbir Singh, state vice-president of BKU (non-political).

The BKU (non-political) formed an independent identity and factioned out from the Tikait-led BKU.