Angry over Rohtak police action, Jind farmers block highways

Deepender Deswal
Tribune News Service
Hisar, April 3 

Enraged residents of several of Jind’s villages held road blockades to protest police action over a farmers’ protest in Rohtak—a development that comes hours after clashes between protesting farmers and police lead ahead of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s visit to Rohtak left three people wounded.

Among the wounded were two elderly farmers.

Roadblocks were reported in several parts of Jind, where angry crowds comprising mostly youngsters spilled on to the streets to protest police action.

READ: Three hurt in clash between farmers and police in Haryana’s Rohtak

Both Jind-Chandigarh and Jind-Barwala highways have been blocked. Neither district authorities nor police have taken any action so far, although the situation continues to remain volatile.

By late evening, farmers sitting on dharna at the toll plazas in Hisar, Jind, and Kaithal districts had also blocked the highways.

Tekram Kandela, a leader of the Kandela Khap, called it a “spontaneous reaction” to the earlier lathicharge.

The government seems to want an open confrontation with protesters, not an open dialogue over the three controversial agriculture laws, he said.

“The incident of assault on the BKU leader Rakesh Tikait by some BJP activists in Rajashtan yesterday and the police action on farmers in Rohtak today have caused resentment among the villagers,” he said.

Ishwar Datt, who was among those blockading the road, claimed the government was trying to provoke farmers.

“They’re trying to crush the farmers’ protests,” he said.