'Delhi Chalo' Protest March: Tension Persists As More Punjab Farmers Swarm Haryana Borders

Chandigarh: Tension persisted at Haryana’s Shambhu and Khanauri borders with Punjab with a multitude of farmers continuing to pour in to participate in the farmers "Delhi Chalo" march at the two protest sites amid teargas shelling till late Wednesday evening.

On Tuesday, dozens of people including farmers, police personnel and a few journalists were reported injured after the protesting farmers clashed with the Haryana authorities, the day the farmers launched "Delhi Chao" tractor march and tried to force their entry into Haryana from these two borders on the national highway (NH) 44 (Shambhu barrier) and NH 52 (Khanauri barrier), from Punjab's Patiala and Sangrur district, respectively.

This was after farmers' talks with the Union ministers team over former’s demands including minimum support price (MSP) and loan waivers failed to yield any results on Monday.

Farmers Vs Police

While teargas shells were intermittently rained from drones at Shambhu border, it was Khanauri border where the farmers' numbers swelled significantly on Wednesday. This protest site remained in the news because of repeated clashes between farmers and police throughout the day and extensive teargas shelling. There were also reports of repeated incidents of cane-charge involving police as well as farmers.

The visual coming of Khanauri protest site showed swarms of farmers repeatedly attempting to force their entry into Haryana and the entire skyline completely filled with thick smoke emitted from teargas shells which police continued to rain on the protesters, leaving dozens of police personnel and farmers were reported to have been hurt in the scuffles.

BKU 'Rail Roko' Against Police Action

Meanwhile, the Joginder Singh Ugrahan, head of the BKU (Ugrahan), which is Punjab’s biggest and most organised farmers’ body, announced 4-hour "rail roko" stir in Punjab on February 15 from noon onwards, against the police action and use of teargas against the farmers.

Stating that their protest was against the ``dictatorial attitude’’ of the Haryana government, Ugrahan said that they would block the rail traffic at seven places in Punjab on Thursday.

Meanwhile, more than 500 women protesters also joined the protesters at Shambhu border on Wednesday saying that they had come to support their brothers and families who were protesting against the injustice to farmers.