Following the Republic Day violence, two farmers’ unions dissociated from the ongoing protests while the rest, organised under the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), said there was a “conspiracy” to defame a two-month-long peaceful peasant movement by the Centre, anti-social elements and groups that had associated with the struggle. The SKM has called off its Budget Day march to Parliament on February 1 in the light of the Republic Day events.

Farmer leader VM Singh said he and his organisation, Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sanghatan, will not be part of the peasant movement henceforth. He said the violence on the Republic Day has damaged the farmers because some leaders, like Rakesh Tikait of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Tikait), are trying to earn “political brownie points” from the protests. He said Tikait never raised issues of sugarcane farmers during the meetings with Centre and accused him of colluding with the Delhi police.

“I am dissociating with the movement. The violence should never have happened,” said Singh.

The All-India Kisan Sabha criticised Singh who, along with Yogender Yadav, had been criticised right at the beginning of the protest for suggesting that the farmers accept Home Minister Amit Shah’s suggestion to move their protest to Burari grounds. He was not very active during the movement since then and was not part of the group that held discussions with the Centre on the farm laws. “This is the second time he and his organisation is walking out of these historic protests. He is trying to remain in media headlines,” AIKS leader P Krishnaprasad said.

Another leader, Bharatiya Kisan Union (Bhanu) faction chief Thankur Bhanu Pratap who was responsible for approaching the Supreme Court on farm laws, a move that did not have the support of the other unions, also dissociated from the movement. Bhanu Pratap Singh has been sitting at the Chilla border with his supporters. “I am deeply pained by the violence yesterday. We do not want to be part of this,” he said.

Conspiracy angle

The SKM senior leaders, including the more radical ones such as Joginder Singh Ugrahan of the BKU(Ugrahan), have been struggling to keep the more radical and fiery elements within the protests such as Sarwan Singh Pandher of the Kisan Majdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) from inciting the younger participants who are frustrated by two months of their sit-in at the border.

It was Pandher of the KMSC who had given the call on Republic Day eve to break the barricades and barge into unchartered routes. The role of other elements like actor Deep Sidhu and his controversial aide Lakha Sidhana and younger participants such as Sukhpreet Udhoke, Baba Raja Raj Singh has also been criticised by the SKM.

Deep Sidhu has created a controversy with a video of him hoisting the Sikh religious flag, the Nishan Sahib, on the Red Fort. Some SKM leaders have accused him of acting at the behest of the BJP and fomenting discord and violence. A picture of Sidhu with BJP MP Sunny Deol and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had gone viral on social media. The SKM said they are all part of a conspiracy to defame the movement.

“A dirty conspiracy was hatched with KMSC and others against the peaceful struggle of other farmer organisations, who had set up their own separate protest site after 15 days of beginning of this farmers’ agitation. They were not part of the organisations which jointly undertook the struggle,” the SKM leaders maintained after an emergency meeting a day after the Republic Day.

The SKM said anti-social elements like Deep Sidhu and others, along with KMSC attempted to torpedo the farmers’ agitation. “Under this conspiracy, the said Kisan organisation and other persons announced that they would march on Ring Road and unfurl a flag on the Red Fort. As a corollary of conspiracy, the KMSC started marching on the Ring Road, two hours before the scheduled march of the struggling organisations. It was a deep rooted conspiracy to knock down the peaceful and strong farmers’ struggle,” the leaders said.

Opposition support

Meanwhile, there was support for the movement from mainstream political parties with Haryana MLA Abhay Chautala driving a tractor into the State Assembly to resign his seat against the farm laws. Political parties in the Opposition camp saluted the farmers. Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said Union Home Minister Amit Shah must take responsibility for the incidents on Tuesday. He said the farmers have been protesting peacefully for more than two months and the Centre’s inability to solve the problems has deteriorated the atmosphere.

The Left parties urged the Centre to repeal the three farm laws immediately. “The untoward incidents that occurred cannot detract the focus from the main demand. These incidents, handiwork of a handful of agent provocateurs, some with links to the ruling party, have been denounced by the entire farmers’ movement. At the same time, even on the agreed routes for the tractor parade, the police obstructed by resorting to lathicharge and teargasing at various places, provoking naturally an angry reaction. Such police actions cannot be condoned,” the CPI(M) Polit Bureau said in a statement.

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