On Sunday, Delhi Police officials will meet with a farmers’ delegation to discuss alternative venues for the Parliament protest
New Delhi: Delhi Police officials will meet with a delegation of farmers on Sunday (July 18, 2021) ahead of their planned protest in front of Parliament during its monsoon session to demand the repeal of contentious farm laws and a legal guarantee on MSP.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of over 40 farmer unions, has planned daily protests outside parliament during the monsoon session, with around 200 farmers taking part.
The leaders have not stated whether they have permission to hold protests outside parliament, but they have stated that the protests will be “peaceful.”
On January 26, a tractor parade in Delhi to highlight farmer unions’ demands to repeal three new agri laws devolved into anarchy on the streets of the national capital as thousands of protesters broke through barriers, fought with police, overturned vehicles, and hoisted a religious flag from the ramparts of the iconic Red Fort.
According to a senior police officer, the meeting with a delegation of farmers will take place on Sunday, prior to their planned protest. During the meeting, police officials may suggest alternative protest locations in Delhi, but nothing concrete has been planned as of yet.
The SKM had previously stated at a press conference that a “chetavani patra” (warning letter) will be issued to all opposition MPs two days before the monsoon session begins to protest the farm laws inside the House.
Thousands of farmers from across the country have been protesting at Delhi’s borders against three farm bills that they claim will abolish the Minimum Support Price system, leaving them at the mercy of large corporations.
Over ten rounds of negotiations with the government, which has been projecting the laws at major agricultural reforms, have failed to break the two parties’ deadlock.
