Protesters at Shambhu border welcome Punjab and Haryana HC order, to resume ‘Delhi Chalo’ march

Welcoming the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s direction to Haryana Police to lift the barricade at Shambhu on the Ambala-Patiala border, farmer union leaders said the ruling debunked the narrative created by the BJP that farmers had been blocking the national highway. The farmers had been stating that Haryana Police had blocked the highway to prevent them from proceeding on the Delhi Chalo march since February.

Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) president Sarwan Singh Pandher, said, “The court has made it clear that it was the Haryana government that had blocked the national highway and caused inconvenience to lakhs of people and not us. We will meet on July 16 to discuss the future strategy after the Haryana government removes barricades as per the court order.”

Members of the Punjab farmer unions, who have been sitting at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders with Haryana, since February 13 announced that they will now continue with their march to Delhi to press for their demands, including the legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP) for all crops.

Guramneet Singh Mangat, the convener of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), said, “It (the high court decision) is a positive step. We welcome the order. We have been demanding that we be allowed to march to Delhi since February. We have already lost over two dozen farmers and hundreds have been injured in the protest so far.”

The Haryana Police had barricaded the inter-state border at Shambhu and Khanauri to deter protesting farmers from reaching the national capital.

The farmers have been staying put at both the border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 when their march was stopped by the security forces.

Ramandeep Singh Mann, a member of the KMM, said, “We had never called off our Delhi Chalo call. We will ask the authorities concerned to designate a venue in Delhi to allow us to protest peacefully.”

Punjab health minister Dr Balbir Singh, taking a jibe at the BJP government in Haryana said, “Government blocked the highway, not farmers. Now the barricades should be immediately removed.”

Applauding the court’s order, the leader of the Opposition, Partap Singh Bajwa said the BJP government in Haryana was violating the basic tenets of democracy.

Action should be taken against the Haryana government for illegally barricading the highway for five months,” he said.