Tractor Rally On Republic Day: Farmers Adamant As Talks With Police Find No Headway; Next Meet On Friday

Farmers said that they will discuss all these issues among themselves first, for which a joint Kisan Morcha meeting will be held at the Singhu border. By Thursday evening, it is expected that the farmers will unveil their strategy in front of everyone.

(Image: PTI)

New Delhi: The second round of talks between Police and the agitiating farmers regarding the proposed 'tractor rally' on January 26 in the national capital remained inconclusive on Thursday as the protesters remained rigid on their demand of taking the rally on Delhi's busy Outer Ring Road. Farmers' representative have made it clear that a peaceful parade will be conducted on Republic Day in the national capital to express their grief over the three contentious agriculture laws passed by the Centre last year.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav, who has been one of the active  said the police wanted the farmer leaders to take out their tractor rally outside the national capital. As per reports, the next round of talks between the two side is scheduled to take place on Friday. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="hi" dir="ltr">किसान गणतंत्र दिवस पर परेड करने के लिए पूरी तरह तैयार हैं। यह परेड आउटर रिंग रोड, दिल्ली में गणतंत्र दिवस के दिन होंगी।<br><br>किसान इस देश के तिरंगे की शान को और बढ़ाएंगे। यह परेड पूरी तरह शांतिपूर्ण ढंग से होंगी।<br> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FarmersProtests?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>#FarmersProtests</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TractorMarch?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>#TractorMarch</a> <a href="https://t.co/DGY4gGg9l0" rel='nofollow'>pic.twitter.com/DGY4gGg9l0</a></p>&mdash; Swaraj India (@_SwarajIndia) <a href="https://twitter.com/_SwarajIndia/status/1352196777743589376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>January 21, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

However, the farmers said that they will discuss all these issues among themselves first, for which a joint Kisan Morcha meeting will be held at the Singhu border. By Thursday evening, it is expected that the farmers will unveil their strategy in front of everyone.

"While the farmers are adamant to parade on Ring Road, the Delhi Police is not ready to accept our demand. The rally will be held in a peaceful manner. The reputation of the festival of public will remain," Yadav said adding that  millions of farmers from across the country have left for this parade, we cannot stop them. 

In the meeting, the Delhi Police had suggested that the farmers take out tractor parades on the KMP (Kundli-Manesar-Palwal) and KGP (Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal) highway outside Delhi. However, the farmers rejected this proposal.

A farmer leader, who attended the meeting with the police, said, "The government wants us to take out our rally outside Delhi, but we want to hold it inside Delhi. No decision was taken in today's meeting."

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court-appointed panel on the new agri laws on Thursday started its consultation process and interacted with 10 farmer organisations from eight states, including Uttar Pradesh. Currently, there are three members in the panel as the fourth, Bhartiya Kisan Union president Bhupinder Singh Mann, has recused himself from the committee.

As per reports, the ten farmer organisations from Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharasthra, Odisha, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh participated in discussions with committee members.