More Delhi border roads shut down as farmers from UP-Haryana join protest

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The National national capital’s border points have been put under heavy police surveillance and many routes leading into the city have been sealed. The farmers from Uttar Pradesh staged a sit in on the Delhi-Noida link road, and on the NH 24 border as the larger protest at the Singhu and Tikri Haryana-Delhi border entered the seventh day. Delhi Traffic police have kept the Singhu and Tikri road closed for traffic, and now Ghazipur, on Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border has also become a protest site. According to news reports the road leading into the national capital from UP has been closed. The Noida Traffic Police advised commuters travelling to Delhi to avoid using the Chilla route and instead take the DND or Kalindi Kunj route, reported NDTV.

According to news reports, farmers protesting at the Delhi-Noida border have come from across western Uttar Pradesh and want to join the farmers of Punjab and Haryana in protest. According to NDTV hundreds of farmers affiliated to the Bharatiya Kisan Union and other groups had gathered at the border by Tuesday evening and heavy security was deployed on both Noida and Delhi sides. Haryana-Delhi borders connecting Delhi with Gurgaon and Jhajjar-Bahadurgarh were also closed as precautionary measures added news reports. Meanwhile, even a week after the farmers reached the capital, the Delhi border points remained under heavy police deployment with concrete barriers and multi-layered barricades in place.

The protest is no longer a ‘Punjab farmers issue’ as many were trying to project it as. According to a statement issued by the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) all India protest campaigns have been launched. The AIKSCC announced that there will be “a mass burning of effigies of the Narendra Modi Government and Corporate giants Ambani and Adani will be burnt on December 5t 2020” across the country.

The AIKSCC has extended support to and expressed solidarity with the protests demanding repeal of New Farm Acts & Electricity Bill 2020, and the “Anti-Corporate Day Protest Programs” being held on December 3. On December 4 a protest march is proposed to be held at Jantar Mantar, Delhi, and more protests will be held all over India on December 5 as well.

The AIKSCC stated its “shock at the acts of wanton repression being unleashed against leaders and activists in the protests against the Central Govt” and has demanded the “immediate release of all arrested leaders and activists” it has also “warned all governments that any oppression will be met by more determined resistances by the masses.”

The farmers protest is also getting support from residents of Delhi across the national capital, many have come forth to volunteer at the community kitchens set up at the protest venues. A group of concerned citizens of Delhi including workers, women, students, youth, intellectuals and others will also hold a protest in solidarity with farmers demanding that the government should pay attention to their demands, repeal the three farms acts and stop the introduction of the electricity bill of 2020. On December 4, the citizens group will gather near Jantar Mantar at noon and march towards Parliament in solidarity with the farmers