Farmers’ ‘Dilli Chalo’ march enters fifth day, BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) to protest outside BJP leaders’ homes in Punjab

PTI

Chandigarh, February 17

The Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) would on Saturday hold dharnas outside the residences of three senior BJP leaders in Punjab on the fifth day of the farmers’ protest over their various demands, including a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops.

Apart from holding dharnas outside the homes of former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, the BJP’s Punjab unit chief Sunil Jakhar and senior leader Kewal Singh Dhillon, the union would also hold protests at toll plazas in the state, extending support to the farmers’ ‘Delhi Chalo’ call.

On the fifth day of their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march—called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha—the farmers stayed put at the two border points of Punjab and Haryana as they press the Centre to accept their demands.

The farmers from Punjab began their march to Delhi on Tuesday but were stopped by security personnel at the Shambhu and Khanauri points of Punjab’s border with Haryana.

The Gurnam Singh Charuni-led Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni), which is based in Haryana, would take out a tractor rally in solidarity with the protesting farmers.

Union ministers Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal and Nityanand Rai and farmer leaders would meet on Sunday for the fourth round of talks. The two sides met earlier on February 8, 12 and 15 but those talks remained inconclusive.

On Friday, the Haryana Police released a series of video clips that purported to show several farmers pelting them with stones and attempting to provoke security personnel at the Shambhu border.

In a post on X, the police asserted that ‘ruckus’ cannot be allowed under the guise of the farmers’ movement. They claimed 25 security personnel—18 from the Haryana Police and seven paramilitary force jawans—were injured in clashes with the farmers.

Farmer leaders spearheading the ‘Delhi Chalo’ call claimed that the Haryana security personnel used “force” against the protesters by hurling tear gas shells and firing rubber bullets at them, leaving many injured.

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