Protesting Farmers To Take Out 'Tiranga Rallies' Across India On I-Day, Leader Says 'No Plans Of Entering Delhi'

Protesting farmers will celebrate Independence Day as 'Kisan Mazdoor Azaadi Sangram Diwas'. Their rallies will be taken out across the country from 11 am to 1 pm.

New Delhi: Farmers protesting against the contentious agrarian laws will celebrate India's 75th Independence Day as 'Kisan Mazdoor Azaadi Sangram Diwas'.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha has made a national appeal in this regard and farmers across the country will mark the day with "Tiranga rallies" at block and tehsil levels. However, they do not plan to enter Delhi for a mass demonstration.

"On August 15, Samyukt Kisan Morcha has given a call for all constituents to mark the day as Kisan Mazdoor Azaadi Sangram Diwas, with Tiranga marches to be organised on that day," said Kavitha Kuruganti of AIKSCC (All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee) as quoted by news agency PTI.

"On that day, tractors, motorcycles, cycles, and carts will be taken out in Tiranga marches by farmers and workers to block, tehsil, district headquarters or to their nearest Kisan morchas or dharnas. These marches will be taken out with the national flag on the vehicles," he added.

The rallies will be taken out across the country from 11 am to 1 pm, the news agency reported another farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar as saying.

At the Delhi borders including Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, where the much-talked-about agitation has been going on, tri-colour marches and programmes will be held throughout the day.

"At Singhu, farmers will march for about eight kms from the main stage at the protest site till the KMP expressway, with the tricolour, and the flags of their respective farm unions on their vehicles," farmer leader Jagmohan Singh said.

The tricolour will also be hoisted on the farmer "jhopdis" at these protest sites, he added.

Farmer leaders have emphasised that the Tiranga rally on August 15 will be "peaceful" and that the protestors will steer clear of Delhi.

"Marches will be taken out across the country, but at tehsil and block levels. They will be peaceful, and we have clarified repeatedly that we have no plans of entering Delhi," Kohar said.

"The happenings of January 26 put a dent on our movement, so the Tiranga marches on August 15 will not enter any city, but our agitation is not going to stop until our demands are met," added Singh.

He said the Tiranga marches on Independence Day will be to emphasise on the farmers' demands of repealing the three contentious laws, and also highlight how according to them, the government has not extended its support to the farmers despite them being on protest for over eight months.

"Through this rally, we want to stress on our demands that we have been fighting for all this time. The speakers at the borders on August 15 will talk about the three laws and why they must be repealed.. The rally is also to show how the government is not going on back foot and meeting the farmers' demands," he added.

The Farmers protests against the three agrarian laws have been going on since November last year.

While the farmers allege that the Union government will do away with the Minimum Support Price system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporations, the Centre on the other hand has been projecting the legislations as major agricultural reforms. Over 10 rounds of talks failed to break the deadlock between both sides.