Two persons, including an elderly farmer, were injured in a clash between agitating farmers and the police during Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal’s visit to Rohtak on Saturday.
The police, however, maintained that injuries were caused during stone-pelting by the farmers and no force was used.
The farmers were protesting against the Chief Minister’s visit as part of their boycott of the BJP and its ally, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leaders in the State in view of the ongoing agitation against the three farm laws.
Superintendent of Police, Rohtak, Rahul Sharma told The Hindu that an elderly farmer and a policeman were injured during stone-pelting by the farmers protesting against the Chief Minister’s visit. The injured farmer was provided medical aid, he added.
Mr. Sharma said the protest was handled in a peaceful manner and there was no clash.
“The farmers wanted to break through the barricades and enter the ground inside a university campus where the CM’s chopper was scheduled to land. In view of the protests, the CM later landed at Police Lines and went ahead with his programme in the city,” said Mr. Sharma.
The protesters, however, claimed that the farmer was injured in a lathi-charge by the police.
The farmers had gathered outside Baba Mastnath University campus where Chief Minister’s chopper was to land in the afternoon. Mr. Khattar was in the city to attend a condolence meeting following the death of the father of local Lok Sabha MP Arvind Sharma.
The umbrella farmers’ organisation, Samyukat Kisan Morcha, in a press statement, condemned “unprovoked lathi-charge” on protesting farmers.
“Many farmers were injured. Given the continuous anti-farmer speeches and behaviour of Haryana BJP leaders and government — the insulted and angry farmers decided to protest peacefully with black flags and gathered in large numbers at Asthal Bohar. However, the police used force against the protestors injuring several protesters,” senior SKM leader Darshan Pal said.
“The farmers, enraged by the highly disparaging remarks made during farmers’ agitation by BJP leaders, had assembled to peacefully show black flags to the Chief Minister. Even women protesters were manhandled by the male cops. Some protesters have received grievous injuries,” said a statement issued by Haryana All-India Kisan Sabha vice-president Inderjit Singh.
Later in the evening, farmers in Jind blocked the Jind-Chandigarh road at Kandela village in protest against police action on farmers in Rohtak. “The road has been blocked for two hours, and traffic is diverted,” said Dinesh Kumar, Station House Office, Jind Sadar Police Station.
Tekram Kandela, convener, Uttar Bharat Khap Panchayats, told The Hindu that the road was also blocked in protest against the attack on farmer leader Rakesh Tikait. He said the blockade would continue all through the night and next course of action would be decided in the morning.
The incident comes close on the heels of a similar protest against Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala in Hisar on April 1.
Protests amid harvest
As harvesting of wheat is all set to commence in Punjab and Haryana, farmers are shaping up a strategy to ensure that the build-up of protesters agitating against Centre's agriculture laws at state borders surrounding Delhi doesn’t drop.
The SKM held a joint meeting of farmers, farm workers, women, employees, students, youth, commission agents, teachers, university staff and other organisations at Ludhiana based Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) to devise a strategy for the agitation during the upcoming harvesting season.
“More than 100 organisations took part in today’s meeting organised by PAU Teachers’ Union, PAU Employees’ Union and PAU Students’ Union. The meeting took cognisance of the fact that when farmers and farm workers attend to wheat harvesting in their farms, the Delhi protest sites have to continue to remain strong in terms of participation. While the farmers' movement will not be weakened in any way, this meeting sought ways of strengthening the protest sites by the participation of non-farmer unions,” said Mr. Pal.
Mr. Pal said all participants pledged to extend their full support in strengthening the movement. “The first meeting of ‘Punjab for Farmers’, a forum which got formed on this occasion will be held in Jalandhar on April 7 in which the role and responsibility division will be taken up in greater detail,” he said.
(With inputs from Vikas Vasudeva)
