Delhi Police has refused permission to protest outside Parliament to farmers agitating against agricultural laws. The farmers sitting on dharna on the Indus border had asked for this permission.
Despite the denial of permission by the police, the farmers have called for a sit-in outside Parliament from Thursday. However, a limited number of people will participate in these dharnas, and Parliament will not be gheraoed.
Giving information about the matter, a Delhi Police spokesperson said that several meetings were held between the police and farmer leaders on the issue, but none of them was resolved. Police say that the protest outside Parliament will violate the rules related to Kovid and may also create security-related problems. The police had also given the farmers the option of protesting at several other places, but the farmers disagreed.
Farmers plan to sit in front of Parliament every day from 22nd July.
At the same time, the farmers said they would sit outside the Parliament daily from July 22 until the monsoon session. On Saturday, a nine-member team of United Kisan Morcha met senior police officers in this regard. In his statement, he said, “With 200 farmers from different states, there will be a daily protest outside the Parliament… We have also assured the police that there is no plan for the farmers to gherao or enter the Parliament forcibly.”
On the proposal of 200 farmers, the police say that they cannot allow so many people to go to Parliament. He asked the farmers to reduce the number. However, the farmers refused to do so. Farmers say that 200 is already a minimal number, and it cannot be reduced from this. He also proposed a demonstration at Jantar Mantar, but the police did not agree to it.
Delhi Police has increased deployment near Singhu Border, New Delhi and Red Fort after talks with the farmers failed. Around 30,000 policemen have been deployed to patrol the city.
The police have also asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to shut down seven metro stations if required and increase surveillance at Janpath, Lok Kalyan Marg, Patel Chowk, Rajiv Chowk, Central Secretariat, Mandi House and Udyog Bhawan stations.
Why are farmers protesting?
The Modi government had brought three laws in September last year to reform the agriculture sector. Many provisions have been made in these, including creating commercial areas for purchase outside government mandis, allowing contract farming and removing the storage limit of many kinds of cereal and pulses. Farmers of many states including Punjab and Haryana are opposing these laws. He says that through these the government wants to get rid of mandis and MSP.