Hundreds of tractors bedecked with lights and posters rolled through the Singhu border protest site as loud Punjabi and Haryanvi songs filled the air on Friday to mark one year of the protest against the three farm laws that the government is set to formally withdraw, news agency PTI reported.
A large number of farmers in tractors were also seen at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border. Security has been beefed up across Delhi’s borders in anticipation of protestors gathering in large numbers. Farmers from adjoining States are reaching the borders of Delhi in large numbers to participate in “Dilli Chalo” on Friday.
The SKM said in a statement on Thursday that such a long struggle continued because of the “insensitivity and arrogance” of the Centre towards toiling citizens. “Over the course of 12 months of one of the largest and longest protest movements across the world and in history, crores of people took part in the movement which spread to every state, every district and every village of India .Apart from the Government’s decision and Cabinet ratification of repeal of the three anti-farmer laws, the movement achieved several victories for the farmers, common citizens and the nation at large,” the statement said.
The SKM said the movement created a sense of unified identity for the farmers, cutting across regional, religious or caste divisions. “Farmers are discovering a newfound sense of dignity and pride in their identity as Farmers, and their assertion as citizens. It has deepened the roots of democracy and secularism in India,’ it claimed.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the agitation will be remembered for the farmers’ unshakable ‘satyagraha’, the “martyrdom of 700 farmers” and the arrogance of the “ruthless” BJP Government .
“One year of farmers’ movement. Will be known for the unshakable satyagraha of farmers, the martyrdom of 700 farmers, the arrogance of the ruthless BJP government and the atrocities on ‘annadatas’,” Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.
