The Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi has given permission to farmers to hold protest at Jantar Mantar from Thursday following Covid protocol, reports said. The Delhi Police has also given its nod to the farmers’ unions to stage demonstration demanding scrapping of the three controversial agri laws.
According to reports, farmers will travel to Jantar Mantar from the Singhu border in buses with police escort.
In order to facilitate the protest, the Delhi government is making changes to its order imposing Covid restrictions under the Delhi Disaster Management Act (DDMA), NDTV reported quoting sources.
The union leaders had earlier said that they would hold a ‘Kisan Parliament’ at Janta Mantar during the monsoon session of Parliament and 200 protesters from the Singhu border will attend it every day from July 22. The monsoon session, which began on Monday, will conclude on August 13.
After a meeting with Delhi Police officials on Tuesday, a farm union leader said they will hold peaceful demonstrations at Jantar Mantar and no protester will go to Parliament.
A tractor parade in Delhi on January 26, that was to highlight the demands of farmer unions to repeal three agriculture laws, had dissolved into anarchy on the streets of the national capital as thousands of protesters broke through barriers, fought with the police, overturned vehicles and hoisted a religious flag from the ramparts of the iconic Red Fort.
Thousands of farmers from across the country have been agitating at the Delhi borders against the three farm laws that they claim will do away with the Minimum Support Price system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporations.
Over 10 rounds of talks with the government, which has been projecting the laws at major agricultural reforms, have failed to break the deadlock between the two parties.
(With PTI inputs)
