Allow us to come to Delhi, protesting farmers write to Modi

Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a coalition of 500 farmer organisations protesting against the three farm Acts, on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow farmers headed for the capital to assemble at Ramlila Grounds and told the government and police to shed their confrontationist attitude towards the ‘annadatas’.

The letter, signed by most of the prominent farmer leaders participating in the protest, also asked the Prime Minister to “ensure that the farmers have a free and safe passage into Delhi without creating a situation where any untoward incident is justified later on, as having been necessitated, which will cause a completely avoidable break away from the very peaceful manner that we have adopted so far.”

It also appealed to him to engage senior ministers in the government to hold talks with national and regional farmer leaders on their demand to scrap the farm Acts as well as the proposed Electricity Amendment Bill 2020.

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Lakhs of farmers from different States of India, particularly Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, have been travelling to the capital for a Delhi Chalo campaign since Thursday to register their protest against the three Acts which they claim are against their interests and are “pro-corporate”.

“These farmers, including youth, have had to face unprecedented obstacles placed in their way by Haryana and Uttar Pradesh governments presumably at the behest of the central government, which tried every possible means to stop them ― regular barricades, sand-laden trucks in multiple layers, barbed wire fences, huge boulders placed across the roads and even trenches on the road, water canons and tear gas,” the leaders appraised Modi in their letter.

“All of this in the cruel winter in north India. We are still managing to march forward, and thankfully, without any untoward incident so far.”

Holding the government responsible, they said, “The nation, and the Government of India in particular, have reached a crucial juncture when they have to ensure that farmers should not undergo this, and to ensure that no untoward incident occurs in an unfortunate stand-off between our annadatas and the government.”

Also read: Govt made a mockery on Constitution Day: farmers

The farmer leaders also said the government did not take into account their views while framing the ordinances or while passing them subsequently as Acts in Parliament. They also said the representations made to the government multiple times remained unanswered even now.

“At least now, the government of India should stop its confrontationist attitude of denying the largest section of our society an opportunity to be heard and sincere dialogue should be initiated. It becomes meaningless for the government to offer talks and not create a conducive atmosphere for such talks to happen,” they said.

Farmers have reached the borders of the capital and have so far been blocked by the Police from entering Delhi. In the meantime, Delhi Police has sought the permission of the Delhi government to convert eight stadiums in the city into temporary prisons to accommodate the farmers in case they need to be arrested eventually.