Farmers to discuss R-Day tractor march after Jan 15 meet with govt

Farmers will plan January 26 tractor parade after their January 15th meeting with the Union Government. This was decided at a meeting of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) at Singhu border Sunday evening.

Joginder Singh Ugrahan, president of BKU Ugrahan, said, “The issue of tractor parade on R-Day was kept pending for the time being. It was decided unanimously by SKM to discuss it after January 15th meeting with Union Government. We will have an exclusive meeting on this subject after January 15.”

However, the All India Kisan Sangrash Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) Sunday evening said if talks fail yet again, tractor parade will not only be held in Delhi but also in all the 718 districts of India. At district level, trade unions, transport unions and industrial workers too will join the farmers.

Krishanaprasad, member of Working Committee of AIKSCC and a former Kerala MLA, said, “With this, it will be the biggest public movement in India post-Independence. Over 500 unions are with AIKSCC across the country. Mobilisation of farmers is there in every district whether they are connected with AIKSCC or not as it is a people’s movement now. This message has spread in every state and they will coordinate with the plan of R-Day march in Delhi.”

Punjab farmer unions are recruiting volunteers specially for January 26 programme to maintain discipline and to curb anti-social elements. Kirti Kisan Union (KKU) held a recruitment drive at Sangrur. “The purpose of recruitment is to have volunteers who can do duties in Delhi on January 26. Though tractor march route and planing is yet to be done, we have to make volunteers ready. These duties can relate to maintaining discipline, sanitation and traffic control,” said Rajinder Singh, general secretary of KKU.

Bhupinder Singh, youth convener of KKU, said, “We organised volunteer recruitment drive in villages of Bahadarpur, Ubbawal and Chhathe Sekhwan and a few other villages of Sangrur. Around 3,000 volunteers have come forward. We have told them to make their tractors ready for January 26 parade. Though there are many tractors in Delhi, still more tractors will go from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. They will start leaving from January 20.”

At Barnala, 800 tractors held a rehearsal on January 7. Many of them will be going to Delhi, said Naraian Dutt, social activist from Barnala.

Bhupinder Singh said, “Volunteers have been told to start practising tractor march by maintaining distance in between. They have been told to mobilise more people, especially the ones who have never been to Delhi. They have been asked to collect ration from villages as well. The age group of volunteers is between 18-45 years — the ones who are fit.”

In addition to this, Krishnaprasad said, “In West Bengal, gherao of Raj Bhawan will be done from January 20-22 while in Kerala, it will be from January 23-25. Farmers in more states such as Karnatka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are also planning on similar lines and will be giving their plan of gheraoing Raj Bhawan soon.”