New Delhi: The farmers, who have continued with their protests against the Centre’s three farm laws despite the Covid-19 pandemic, will observe a ‘black day’ in Delhi on Wednesday to mark six months of their agitation.
This comes as the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a union of 40 farmers' outfits, has issued a call for ‘black day’ to mark six months of the ongoing agitation.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait, however, downplayed the concerns regarding large gathering in the national capital in view of the surge in Covid-19 cases.
“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.
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Below are the latest developments with regard to the farmers’ protests:
1. As many as twelve major opposition parties have extended their support to Black Day march by farmers. Sonia Gandhi (Congress), H D Deve Gowda (JD-S), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Mamata Banerjee (TMC), Uddhav Thackeray (SS), M K Stalin (DMK), Hemant Soren (JMM), Farooq Abdullah (JKPA), Akhilesh Yadav (SP), Tejaswi Yadav (RJD), D Raja (CPI) and Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) have signed joint statement.
2. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Tuesday extended her support to the protest call given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha and asked the Centre to adopt a sympathetic attitude towards the farmers.
3. Meanwhile, Delhi Police has urged people not to hold gatherings due to the COVID situation and the ongoing lockdown and said it is keeping a tight vigil to deal with any situation at the protest sites on the city's borders.
4. Action will be taken against those who try to take the law into their hands, Delhi Police PRO Chinmoy Biswal said, adding that the force is already present at all borders points, including the protest sites of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, and will not allow any illegal activity or entry.
5. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) too on Sunday extended its support to the Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s call to observe a countrywide protest on May 26 to mark completion of six months of its movement against the Centre's three farm laws
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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