Farmers Stay Put At Ghazipur; Cops Dig Up Road At Singhu: What's Happening At The Protest Sites

Tensions simmering since the violent Republic Day tractor rally threatened to boil over at the Ghazipur protest site as authorities issued an ultimatum to the farmers on Thursday, to leave even as they refused to budge.

Ghazipur border

Here's all that happened during the late-night drama that played out at Tikri:

Power, water supply to border cut off

Security forces dug trenches, put up barricades, and bolstered numbers at the sites on Delhi¡¯s borders on Thursday as cracks started to appear in the 64-day-old protest.

ANI

Thursday's standoff between farmers and cops began when Ghaziabad¡¯s additional district magistrate (city) Shailendra Kumar Singh asked protesters to end their two-month-long sit-in and vacate the spot at the earliest or face action. Heavy deployment of forces added to the tensions.

Forces at #ghazipurborder after DM ordered protesters to vacate @IndianExpress @ieDelhi pic.twitter.com/TtrJ9Sf5rB

¡ª Ananya Tiwari (@Ananyati) January 28, 2021

The order came hours after protesters said power and water supply to the site were cut off, and hundreds of policemen were sent there. Police also diverted traffic on arterial roads connecting Delhi to Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and closed several checkpoints.

Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait broke down

Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait was issued a notice under section 133 of CrPC (conditional order for removal of the nuisance) for eviction from the Ghazipur site and he was also to be arrested later. But Tikait refused to leave the site, saying they may approach the Supreme Court.

Delhi: Farmers continue their protest against #farmlaws at Tikri border. pic.twitter.com/s8kuYFXggj

¡ª ANI (@ANI) January 29, 2021

Tikait broke down and maintained there is no question of vacating the Ghazipur protest site and police can do whatever they want. Tikait accused the government of wanting to destroy farmers and warned if the farm laws are not repealed, he will commit suicide as tears fell down his cheeks.

¡°We will not leave the site,¡± Tikait said. ¡°We will face bullets, but not leave the protest. There is a conspiracy to end this agitation, but it will not end. They want to destroy the farmers.¡±

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¡ª TezTV (@TezChannel) January 28, 2021

Tikait announced a hunger strike. Around 5,000 farmers gathered at his ancestral village of Sisauli, roughly 100km away, and threatened to march to Ghazipur. His brother Naresh Tikait announced that a ¡°mahapanchayat¡± will be held in Muzaffarnagar to discuss the plan ahead.

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¡ª Naresh Tikait (@NareshTikait_) January 28, 2021

More farmers joined the sit-in protest

Farmers, primarily from western Uttar Pradesh, have been sitting in Ghazipur for about two months. On Wednesday, at least two other unions pulled out of the protests, and the farm unions called off a march to Parliament on February 1, the day the Union budget will be presented.

The unions lost more momentum on Thursday when another union, BKU (Lokshakti), which was camped at Noida, pulled out.

ANI

Meanwhile, reports emerged of farmers from Haryana driving to Delhi in the night to support the protests. Farmers also blocked the Jind-Chandigarh National Highway near Kandela village, according to The Indian Express.

Reports of farmers leaving for Delhi from Biwani, Jind and other districts of Haryana. @ndtv pic.twitter.com/0ARD2T1LY1

¡ª Mohammad Ghazali (@ghazalimohammad) January 28, 2021

Singhu border

At Singhu, on the Capital¡¯s northwestern border, the biggest of the four sites for farmer mobilisation, police increased security, blocked major entry points to the site, installed more concrete barriers using cranes and dug trenches using a JCB machine.

#WATCH: Delhi Police has deployed a JCB machine to dig a road at Singhu border that connects Delhi to Haryana. pic.twitter.com/3T8SaWTlZR

¡ª ANI (@ANI) January 28, 2021

At around 12pm, nearly 50 people gathered and demanded that the protest be cleared. The farm unions majorly from Punjab, Haryana dismissed this demand and said they will continue their movement against the three laws passed in September.

Police presence continues at Singhu border (Delhi-Haryana border) as the farmers' agitation against the three farm laws continues. Latest visuals from the spot. pic.twitter.com/404XtyWnZS

¡ª ANI (@ANI) January 29, 2021

Farm unions have called for a day-long fast on January 30, Mahatma Gandhi¡¯s death anniversary. Delhi Police have named farmer leaders in their first information reports, including Yogendra Yadav, Balbeer Singh Rajewal, Buta Singh, SS Pannu, and Darshan Pal. Farm unions said they were prepared to face jail but won¡¯t retreat.

ANI

Tikri border

Several farmer unions protesting at the Tikri border took out a ¡°tiranga rally¡± on Thursday in what they said was an attempt to dispel ¡°myths¡± allegedly being propagated by the government that protesters at Delhi borders did not respect the Tricolour, while insisting they would not vacate the protest site until their demands were met.

At Tikri border, farmers take out a ¡®tiranga rally¡¯

(reports @Iftikharfariha)
https://t.co/8Knq2nNcUx pic.twitter.com/ofOJ3xqlT9

¡ª Hindustan Times (@htTweets) January 29, 2021

Delhi Police had put up barricades to block the Rohtak-Delhi highway and beefed up security in the area. Earlier in the morning, the farmers gathered at the main protest site and staged a day-long dharna. Popular Punjabi artistes, including Kanwar Grewal, Sonia Mann and Harf Cheema, sang motivational songs.

Though there were visible tension after registration of FIRs against their leaders, farmers seemed confident of winning the battle and claimed the agitation would go on.

ANI

The protesters also said that the police were trying to cut off the protest site to discourage the supporters of the farmers¡¯ movement from visiting them. Jagmohan Singh, a farmer leader, said, ¡°Some visitors also complained that police did not allow them to enter the protest site.¡±

A senior police officer, who was not authorised to speak to the media, said that the police were reacting to the violence on Republic Day and ensuring it was not repeated.