The farmer unions protesting against the new agri laws on Wednesday said they have cancelled their decision to hold a march to the Parliament on February 1 when the Union budget will be unveiled. The decision came a day after the tractor rally organised by the unions in the national capital turned violent, leading to clashes between the protesters and police at multiple places.
Farmer leader Darshan Pal, however, alleged that the chaos in Delhi during the tractor parade on the Republic Day was a conspiracy by the government. "The tractor parade was hit by a government conspiracy. Deep Sidhu is an RSS man. Police let him go after he hoisted a religious flag at Red Fort," he said.
Sidhu is a former aide of actor and BJP MP Sunny Deol. Deol had distanced himself from Sidhu in December after he supported the farmers' agitation.
Pal said public meetings and hunger strike will be held across the country on January 30, adding that agitation against the three contentious farm laws will continue.
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Another farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal claimed that over two lakh tractors and lakhs of people participated in Tuesday's parade and "99.9 percent of the protesters were peaceful".
"We regret the Red Fort incident and accept its moral responsibility. The incident should be probed. There is a conspiracy behind it".
Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav, who has been at the forefront of the farmers' movement, said the farmer leaders would take the moral responsibility for the mayhem in the capital on Tuesday.
Tens of thousands of farmers broke barriers to storm the national capital on Tuesday as their rally dissolved into unprecedented scenes of anarchy. The protesters fought with police, overturned vehicles and delivered a national insult hoisting a religious flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort, a privilege reserved for India's tricolour.
While there were no exact estimates of how many farmers were hurt, Delhi Police officials said 86 of their men were injured through the day. Of these, 41 were injured at the Red Fort.
A protester died after his tractor overturned near ITO, one of the major flashpoints of trouble.