New Delhi: The farmers are observing a ‘black day’ on Wednesday to mark six months of their protests against the Centre’s three farm laws in response to the Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s (SKM) call for a nationwide strike.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the protesting farmers raising black flags and shouting slogans of “we will fight, we will win” carried out marches in several cities and villages in Punjab and Haryana, and at Delhi’s borders.
They also burnt effigies of national leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during their protests.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a union of 40 farmers' outfits, had appealed to all to put up black flags on their houses and vehicles during the protests.
"If the government wants us to end our protest, then it should listen to us and take back the decronian laws, because we are not going anywhere unless our demands are met," a farmer leader told news agency PTI.
In tune with the same, the farmers at Delhi’s Ghazipur and Singhu borders converted tents into permanent structures, built long stretches of bamboo huts under flyovers and stocked up essential commodities to ensure they do not face any hindrance during the protests.
Similar was the scene in several villages of Punjab and Haryana where the farmers were seen wearing black turbans as they continued their protests demanding that the three laws be repealed by the Centre.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait had, however, on Tuesday downplayed the concerns regarding large gathering in the national capital in view of the surge in Covid-19 cases.
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“We will put up black flags. There will be no crowding or public meeting. Nobody is marching to Delhi. The people will put up the flags wherever they are. It’s been six months now, the government hasn’t taken back the black laws,” ANI quoted Tikait as saying.
Several opposition parties, including the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), JD-S), NCP, Shiv Sena, TMC, DMK, JMM, JKPA, RJD, CPI, CPI-M and Samajwadi Party have extended their support to the farmers.
Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at three Delhi border points since November last year, demanding the three farm laws - Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020, - passed last year by the Centre be repealed
So far, 11 rounds of talks between 40 farm leaders and the government have failed to break the deadlock over the three laws. The last round was on January 22. There has been no talks between the two sides since January 26 when the farmers' tractor rally in the national capital turned violent.