Farmer leaders Rakesh Tikait, Balbir Singh Rajewal and Darshan Pal Singh were among the thousands of farmers gathered at a mahapanchayat in Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri on Sunday to garner support for the protest against the three contentious farm laws.
Farmer leader Darshan Pal Singh gave a call to intensify the agitation in Haryana.Farmers attend the ‘mahapanchayat’ in Charkhi Dadri, Haryana, on Sunday. Tribune Photo
“The Haryana BJP government has let down people and has no right to stay in power,” he said.
He said he had cautioned the government about the new Bills during the initial discussion but his voice was not heard.
Taking a lesson from the Jind ‘mahapanchayat’, organisers of the ‘mahapanchayat’ at Kitlana have set up a brick-lined stage and enclosed it with pipes to ensure the safety of the farmer leaders at the stage.
Singh urged the youth to come ahead and take forward the agitation.
“We have debated clause-wise on the law but lies have been spread about the discussion. Union Ministers have realised their mistake in the enactment of laws. Sarv khap panchayat has immense strength to take the stir ahead and we hope that a united struggle will ensure win of the farmers,” Singh reiterated.
Haryana Deputy Chief Minister had stated that he would resign from the government if issue not resolved by January 26.
Rakesh Tikait said khap panchayats had emerged as a strong social set up during the times of Raja Harshvardhan.
“The government tried to divide people on the basis of Haryana and Punjab, Sikh and non-Sikh but you should stay strong. There is not a single weak link in the agitation,” he assured the kisan morcha leaders.
On the violence of Republic Day, he alleged: “Our young people were misguided and taken to the Red Fort by government agencies.”
“Two government representatives came to meet me yesterday but I refused to meet them separately as every discussion will be held collectively in the presence of 40 members of the kisan morcha,” Tikait said.
The MLA from Charkhi Dadri and Sangwan khap pradhan, Sombir Sangwan, on Saturday had said the ‘mahapanchayat’ would be a ‘turning point’ in the agitation of the farmers against the farm laws.
Three more farmers die at Tikri One from Jind hangs himself, two others from Punjab die of heart attack
Farmers protesting against the three farm laws listen to a leader at the Tikri border on Sunday. PTI
Tribune News Service
Sonepat, February 7
Three more farmers died at the Tikri border on Sunday during the ongoing farmers’ protest against the three farm laws. A farmer from Singwal village in Jind district reportedly hanged himself.
Heart attack was suspected to be the reason behind the death of two farmers from Punjab.
Karambir (52) of Singwal village in Jind district reportedly ended his life by hanging himself from a tree near the Sector 9 bypass. He was a part of the protest since the last week of November.
One of them was BKU leader
Karambir (52) of Jind’s Singwal village reportedly ended his life by hanging himself from a tree
In the suicide note, he blamed the three farm laws and the Cente for taking the extreme step
BKU leader Sukhjinder Singh (57) of Moga district and Lakha Singh of Sangrur district died of heart attack
Fellow farmers said they played cards till 11 pm last night, after which they went to bed. They said they found his body hanging from a tree in a park this morning.
The police reached the spot after getting information. The police recovered a suicide note from a pocket of the deceased, in which he blamed the three agricultural laws and the Centre.
The police handed over the body of the deceased to his kin after postmortem.
A large number of villagers and farmer activists attended his cremation. ‘Kisan ekta zindabad’ slogans reverberated as his body was being taken for cremation. The deceased is survived by his wife and three daughters.
Two farmers from Punjab also died at the Tikri border today. One of them was identified as Sukhjinder Singh (57) of Dhulkot Ransi village in Moga district. He was president of the Nihal Singhwala block of the BKU (Qadian).
He was part of the first group which reached the Tikri border on November 26 and had been putting up in a trolley near pillar number 75.
Another farmer, Lakha Singh of Kalondi village in Sangrur district, died today. He had arrived at the Tikri border on February 3 and had been putting up with a group of farmers near the Sector 9 bypass.
He went for a morning walk today and lay down after coming back. When other farmers called him for tea, he did not respond. They took him to the General Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
At Singhu border, Rakesh Tikait’s cutouts, posters & badges of farmers stir draw crowd
BKU spokesperson Rakesh Tikait during a Mahapanchayat, organised by Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) and khap panchayat, to mobilise support for their ongoing agitation against Centre’s farm reform laws, near Kitlana toll in Charkhi Dadri district on Sunday. PTI photo
New Delhi, February 7
The demand for cutouts of Rakesh Tikait at Singhu border underlines the growing popularity of the farmer leader credited with reviving the farmers’ movement against the Centre’s farm laws following violence during a tractor rally on Republic Day.
Roadside stalls selling badges, posters and other literature related to the farmers’ stir are a common sight at Singhu border.
Wasim Ali, who has set up such a stall at the protest site, says hand-held cutouts of Tikait are a big hit among the crowd.
“Each cutout of Tikait is priced at Rs 20. I have been selling the cutouts since the last few days as they are in high demand,” he said.
Around 700-800 such cutouts are sold every day, said Ali, a resident of Bawana in north west Delhi.
“I usually buy these cutouts from Sadar Bazar and sell them here. These are the most demanded items at my stall,” he added.
Tikait’s image received a massive boost after he defiantly announced to continue the agitation, even as a large posse of Uttar Pradesh police personnel gathered at Ghazipur protest site after the Republic Day violence, with rumours rife that he might be arrested.
A section of protesting farmers had entered Delhi and reached up to ITO and Red Fort in the heart of the national capital during their tractor rally on January 26. In clashes between police and farmers, scores were injured and property, including buses, were vandalised.
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader was unwell when a large number of UP police personnel gathered at Ghazipur border where he had been camping for over two months in protest against the contentious farm laws.
A cornered Tikait, however, addressed a huge crowd at the protest site, which has now become a focal point of the agitation, after his teary-eyed speech was beamed by news channels amid dwindled presence at Ghazipur border after the January 26 violent clashes.
He had reaffirmed the resolve of the farmers, saying “they won’t relent or retreat”.
Tikait’s emotional appeal galvanised thousands of farmers from western UP as well as Punjab and Haryana, who took to road to join the agitation that had faced the threat of petering out in the wake of the January 26 episode. PTI
60-yr-old man from Chandigarh held in connection with Red Fort violence
Many of the protesters, driving tractors, reached the Red Fort and entered the monument on Republic Day. Tribune file
New Delhi, February 7
The Delhi Police on Sunday arrested a 60-year-old man from Chandigarh in connection with the violence that took place at Red Fort during the farmers’ tractor parade on Republic Day, officials said.
With his arrest, the total number of people nabbed by Delhi Police in connection with the violence that took place across the national capital on January 26 has gone up to 127.
Sukhdev Singh was arrested from Chandigarh by the Crime Branch team, which is probing 13 cases registered in connection with the Republic Day violence, they said.
The police had earlier announced a cash reward for Singh and three others for allegedly instigating protesters.
The police have also announced cash reward of Rs 1 lakh for information that can lead to the arrest of actor Deep Sidhu, Jugraj Singh, Gurjot Singh and Gurjant Singh who hoisted flags at the Red Fort or were involved in the act.
A senior police officer said Singh was allegedly leading the mob at the Red Fort on the day of incident and he was found to have an “active presence” at the spot.
So far, a total of 127 people have been arrested in connection with the Republic Day violence across the national capital, police said.
Thousands of farmers protesting the Centre’s new agri laws had clashed with the police during the tractor parade on January 26.
Many of the protesters, driving tractors, reached the Red Fort and entered the monument. Some protesters even hoisted religious flags on its domes and a flagstaff at the ramparts, where the national flag is unfurled on Independence Day. PTI
Deafening sound & torrents of water, recall shocked villagers
Locals at the damaged Dhauliganga hydropower project site at Raini village. PTI
Raini (U’khand), February 7
It was a tranquil winter morning in Raini village until the residents were jolted at around 10 am on Sunday by a loud sound and the sight of huge torrents of water and sludge in the Rishi Ganga river hurtling towards them.
“Before we could make out what was happening, the raging muddy waters of Rishi Ganga had devastated the landscape,” says Dharam Singh (50), a resident of the village. The scenes brought back to the people horrifying memories of the 2013 Kedarnath deluge that killed thousands.
Many were feared swept away in the sudden floods on Sunday, including those who were working near the river.
Three residents of the village, including a 75-year-old woman identified as Amrita Devi who had gone out to work in her field close to the bridge on the Rishi Ganga, are missing since the avalanche struck after the Nanda Devi glacier burst.
Others missing include Yashpal Singh of Valli Raini, who had gone to the fields to graze his livestock and disappeared along with them.
Ranjit Singh (25) of the village, who worked in the Rishi Ganga hydel project, is also missing after the avalanche.
Pradeep Rana of Juwa Gwan village said Sanjay Singh, a resident of the same village who had gone out to the fields to graze his goats, was also missing. Some ancient temples built about 20 metres above the confluence of Rishi Ganga and Dhauli Ganga rivers have also been swept away by the violent avalanche.
Umeli Devi (34), who had come from Nepal to work in the Rishi Ganga hydel project, said 10 of her colleagues had been swept away in the avalanche. — PTI
A 26-year-old Navy sailor who had been abducted in Chennai on January 30 was set on fire by the kidnappers in jungles of Maharashtra’s Palghar district and he died of injuries, the police said on Saturday.
Suraj Kumar Dubey, the victim, died while he was being shifted to hospital in Mumbai on Friday, district police said.
Dubey, who hailed from Ranchi, was posted at INS Agrani near Coimbatore, said Palghar district police spokesperson Sachin Navadkar.
As per the preliminary information, when he was returning from vacation on January 30, three men abducted him at gun point outside Chennai Airport around 9 pm and demanded ransom of Rs 10 lakh.
He was kept captive in Chennai for three days and later shifted to area near Vevji in Talasari area of Palghar district of Maharashtra, close to Mumbai and 1,400 km away from the Tamil Nadu capital.
On Friday morning, the abductors tied his hands and legs and set him on fire in jungles near Gholvad, and fled leaving him for dead, police said.
Dubey managed to run away and with the help of some locals, reached Dahanu Primary Health Centre.
As he had more than 90 per cent burn injuries, he was rushed to the naval hospital in Mumbai but he died on the way, police said.
Before dying, he narrated the ordeal to police, Navadkar said.
Ready for talks, but won’t accept anything less than repeal of farm laws: Protesting unions Ball is now in the government’s court, says Samyukta Kisan Morcha leader Darshan Pal
Farmers during their ongoing protest against Centre’s farm laws, at Ghazipur border in New Delhi on Saturday. PTI
New Delhi, February 6
Protesting farmer unions on Saturday said they were ready to resume talks with the government, but asked it to come up with a fresh proposal as the existing offer to put the three farm laws on hold for 12-18 months is not acceptable to them.
The unions, however, made it clear that they would not settle for anything less than the repeal of the three contentious laws.
Addressing a press conference at the Singhu border here, Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s senior leader Darshan Pal said the ball was now in the government’s court…..
“We are ready to talk. The ball is in the government’s court. We clearly told them that their last proposal (of suspending the farm laws for 12-18 months) was not acceptable to us. Now, they should come up with a new proposal,” he told reporters.
Talking about the Saturday’s ‘chakka jam’, the farmer leader claimed it got huge nationwide support which once again “proved” that farmers across the country are united against these farm laws. PTI
‘Didn’t know I’d live to get this’ — 1971 PoW, Vir Chakra awardee receives Vijay Mashaal torch
Brigadier Hamir Singh (Retd), who was a young captain during the 1971 war against Pakistan, was honoured as part of India’s celebrations to mark 50 years of the victory.
Brigadier Hamir Singh (Retd), receives the Vijay Mashaal, in Jaipur Thursday | Via Indian Army
New Delhi: On 14 December 1971, in the final days of the 13-day war for Bangladesh’s liberation, a young Army captain named Hamir Singh was captured by Pakistan during the battle of Daruchhian in Jammu and Kashmir. At the time, he had a severe bullet injury in his arm.
The war ended two days later with Pakistan’s surrender. But it would be nearly a year before the Army officer would make his way back to India.
After his return, Hamir Singh served the Army for two decades before retiring as Brigadier in September 1992.
On Thursday, the Vir Chakra recipient, now 82, found himself travelling back to his exploits in the war as he received the ‘Vijay Mashaal’ — a symbolic torch meant to honour his role — as part of India’s Swarnim Vijay Varsh celebrations to mark 50 years of the victory against Pakistan in 1971.
The year-long commemorations for the war’s golden jubilee began on 16 December last year as Prime Minister Narendra Modi lit the ‘Swarnim Vijay Mashaal’ from the eternal flame of the National War Memorial.
Talking to ThePrint over the phone from Jaipur, the former Army officer said he was highly honoured to receive the Vijay Mashaal.
“Honestly, I didn’t know that I would live to get this honour, 50 years since then,” he said.
A third-generation Army officer, Brig. Singh was commissioned into the Grenadiers Regiment in December 1962.
His grandfather, Lt Phool Singh, was an officer in the erstwhile Jodhpur Lancers and served in the First World War. His father Maj. Gen. Kalyan Singh was an artillery officer commissioned in the second field regiment and participated in the 1962 India-China war.
In the subsequent years, he served as an instructor in the Nigerian Defence Academy, and commanded an Infantry Battalion and an Infantry Brigade.
His capture
Brig. Singh was part of the 1971 war as a company commander with 14 Grenadiers.
When he was captured on the afternoon of 14 December 1971, his arm had bullet injuries that shattered his bones and severely damaged his radial nerve (injury to radial nerve can result in an inability to straighten one’s wrist).
His sons — now serving Major Generals in the Army — were just five and seven years old at the time, Brig Singh said.
For the next six months, the Army officer was to stay in a Rawalpindi hospital undergoing multiple surgeries. The subsequent months were spent in a small space he shared with multiple other Indian prisoners of war (PoWs).
“Honestly, I lost dates after that, but for nearly six months, I stayed at a hospital undergoing surgeries,” he said.
In June 1972, he heard that some PoWs were being sent back to India. While two of his colleagues were sent back, he was left at the hospital, all alone.
He then conveyed to the Red Cross staff that he wanted to be shifted to the camp where the remaining PoWs were lodged, citing the fact that his treatment was over.
He stayed at the camp until 1 December 1972 when he and the other PoWs were repatriated.
His role in the war earned him a Vir Chakra, which is awarded for acts of gallantry in the presence of enemy.
As part of the 1971 war Golden Jubilee celebrations, the government is honouring the role of Indian soldiers. Among other things, four ‘Victory Mashaals (flaming torches)’ will be lit from the eternal flame at the National War Memorial and carried to various parts of the country, including villages of Param Vir Chakra and Maha Vir Chakra awardees of the war.
Additionally, soil from these villages and areas where major battles were fought is being brought to the memorial. Various commemorative events are scheduled to be held around India at which war veterans will be felicitated.
Narendra Modi’s comments on the tricolour and “insults to it” should be seen in the background of the nature of the current protests and the RSS’s ritual opposition to the same tricolour until recently.
“India was saddened by the insult to the tricolour on Republic Day” stated Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a few days ago.
He was referring, obviously, to the mayhem that broke out when farmers, their friends and enemies, streamed into Delhi on January 26.
‘India’, on behalf of whom Modi now speaks with unusual authority, is surely entitled to feel more than hurt if the flag was desecrated. This charge, however, camouflages more than it reveals. During the protest, the national flag atop Red Fort was not only untouched, but the Nishan Sahib that was hoisted on the fort’s ramparts was certainly not the flag of ‘Khalistan’ – as was let loose into the breeze, quite mischievously.
SPEAKS BY ITSELF
It was at a considerable distance from the tricolour and its pole was nowhere near in height. What intrigues me the most is why the person who led the move to plant the flag is moving around so sure of himself and posting video messages on social media.
Since the entire world knows that he was (and may still be) associated with the ruling party, it is surely time for the nurser of hurts to come out and declare his ‘official’ position on him. After all, the man purported to have been behind the flag hoisting has flaunted his photograph next to the prime minister, and since this cannot be dismissed as ‘crowd scene’ snap, “the nation needs to know” who or what prompted him to cause the hurt.
The narrative that is being sought to be peddled is, however, fraught with danger.
By highlighting that someone from the Sikh community defiled the national flag, an entire people is sought to be dragged in. The community has always produced excellent farmers and has historically provided the finest of soldiers – many more than people whose belligerent talk is certainly not matched by their numbers joining the army.
A patriotic community cannot be vilified just because it took the lead in opposing suspiciously rushed-through pieces of legislation.
What the dispensation’s cheerleaders have not understood, among countless other things, is that the long and peaceful agitation of farmers at Delhi’s borders is fast becoming a metaphor for righteous resistance – and may soon join the ranks of Chipko, Champaran or Bardoli.
Public imagination is in the process of inscribing the name of the tormentor who launched unprovoked depredations on agitating agriculturalists quite permanently into popular lore. Once that happens, woe betide the villain of such balladic tales, for his name shall be spat upon for ever.
Even dropping innuendos about Sikhs fomenting trouble and proclaiming them or a section as ‘anti-national separatists’ without first providing solid evidence is outrageous. Some Khalistani supporters may have penetrated the huge ocean of protesting farmers, but can anyone swear that there is no foreign agent ensconced within the upper echelons of this regime – or any other?
Punjab has suffered more than its share of political outrage, stoked often by religious fanatics and their opponents. It is only prudent not to stomp with jackboots on sensitive issues that may ignite other problems. To fling conspiracy theories around would also whip up outrage. It is imperative for the regime to desist from short-term outwitting games and, instead, attend to the disaffection caused by these Acts.
Two simple public statements may defuse the situation immediately – one, that the time-tested MSP (minimum support price) system would remain, and the other that all the talk of Ambani-Adani grabbing farm produce is not true.
OTHER LINKS WHO DONOT SUPPORT FARMERS :::PRAISES BILLLS
A ruler would then not have to dig deep trenches, build concrete walls and drive killer spikes to barricade himself from his own people. Besides, if we are to give some credence to organisations of agitating farmers, that have held together millions in absolute peace for over two months, there is certainly much more that what met the eye and the television cameras on India’s most boisterous Republic Day.
The identity of those agent provocateurs and others who broke into Delhi with so relative ease, much before the appointed hour of the peaceful ‘tractor rally’, and then fought pitched battles with the police needs just time and sincerity to be established. There is abundant camera footage available. It was the unruly exertions of these groups that incensed captive television audiences. The latter was larger than usual, as it was a holiday, and everything appeared to be working on cues. Anchors competed with each other to scream and condemn the violence – as is only expected when dramatic displays of indignation at dissent have become so institutionalised.
Contemporary history tells us that India has seen many such and several more virulent protests in recent decades, but hardly ever has public vexation been titrated and channelised so effectively. Those who opposed well-fortified governments earlier were certainly not doing so by showering rose petals on the sentinels. But, they were not automatically condemned as seditionists and user-friendly media did not bay for their blood.
Let us recall, for instance, the Navnirman Andolan of Gujarat in which, in which Narendra Modi claims to have played an active role. Destruction of public property was rampant, as was arson, and credible reports indicate that nearly a hundred persons died in violent clashes with government forces. About 3,000 were injured and police records attest that over 8,000 were arrested.
Literally, hundreds of other similar destructive public protests and eruptions have wracked the country since then, but regime-apologists were not to tear their vocal chords in frenzied bouts of feigned horror. The point is that protests do often boil over – in every age and in every country.
When Modi mentions of India’s sadness at the insult to the tricolour, it is only befitting to recall the stand that his own parent organisation, the RSS, took just before Independence. Its mouthpiece, Organiser, mentioned in its issues of July 17 and 22, 1947, that the Indian tricolour will “never be respected and owned by the Hindus.”
According to it, “The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country.”
This is obviously incorrect, as ‘three’ is so prominent in Hinduism – from the trishul to trimurti, the three-pronged sacred weapon of Hindus to the holy triumvirate of Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar.
Modi’s guru M.S. Golwalkar, the second chief of the RSS, also bemoaned that independent India’s “leaders have set up a new flag for the country – why did they do so?”
In his Bunch of Thoughts, he declared,, “Ours is an ancient and great nation with a glorious past. Then, had we no flag of our own? Had we no national emblem at all these thousands of years? Undoubtedly we had. Then why this utter void, this utter vacuum in our minds?” Golwalkar did not, however, elaborate which ancient national emblem or flag he was alluding to. We know, of course, that he wanted to replace the all-embracing tricolour flag with the Bhagwa Dhwaj, the saffron ‘split flag’ of the RSS, that represented only Hindus.
It is, therefore, appropriate to view Narendra Modi’s present comments on the tricolour and “insults to it” in this background. Far from disowning this heritage, he actually cherishes it. It was Sardar Patel, who he worships so publicly and at public expense, who actually compelled Golwalkar and the Hindu Right to retract their opposition to the Indian national flag. He set it as a pre-condition for lifting the 18-month ban on the RSS and for releasing its leaders from jail.
It may, therefore, be wiser to let India and Indians decide for themselves which insult to the national flag really hurts them more.
