Day after Punjab clash, security enhanced in Chandigarh ahead of farmer protest

Security has been enhanced in and around Chandigarh while 4,000 paramilitary and police personnel have been put on standby even as 16 farmer unions announced shifting their demonstration for compensation for losses caused by floods this summer to Longowal in Punjab’s Sangrur, where protesting cultivators clashed with police on Monday.

The clash was sparked when police tried to stop the cultivators from blocking a highway and a toll plaza over the detention of some farm leaders ahead of a demonstration in Chandigarh. Pritam Singh, a 70-year-old farmer, was killed when a tractor-trolley ran over him during the clash while five policemen were also injured.

Fifty-three farmers have been booked for the attempt to murder over the clash and escalated tensions ahead of the demonstration. Farmers continued protesting near the Longowal police station demanding action against the police for using force in chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s home district.

Sangrur’s senior police superintendent Surendra Lamba said a few farmer leaders provoked protesters to break barricades before they were broken. “We are yet to lodge an FIR [first information report] over the death. We are waiting for the family of the farmer and will act according to their complaint.”

Police said they were scanning videos of the clash to identify others who were involved in the attacking police and that 18 of the 53 accused have been named in the matter.

Lamba said members of a faction of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) sought to block the Sangrur-Barnala national highway and Badbar toll plaza but police refused to let them do so. “The farmers forced their way through barricades using tractor-trailers,” he said.

Pritam Singh’s leg was crushed under a tractor and he succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Patiala. A video purportedly showing the farmer coming under the rear wheel of the tractor surfaced on social media. Some farmers could be seen asking the vehicle’s driver to stop but he did not.

Police blamed the “irresponsible behaviour” of a few tractor and bus drivers during the protest for the farmer’s death. Lamba said some protesters attacked policemen with sticks.

Kuliwinder Soni Longowal, a leader of BKU’s Ekta Azad faction, blamed the police for the clash. He added police were raiding the houses of farmers, and several farm leaders were detained ahead of the Chandigarh protest. “To get our leaders released, we decided to stage a protest at the Badbar toll plaza. When we were marching towards the toll plaza, the police attacked us.”

Farmer bodies have been demanding ₹50,000 crore to compensate for the damages floods caused this summer.

Opposition Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for the farmer’s death. “Horrendous broad daylight murder of a beleaguered and peacefully protesting farmer Pritam Singh at Longowal has sent shock waves throughout the state, especially among the farmers,” he said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa condemned the police action calling the AAP government draconian. “Several farmers’ union leaders have been arrested and raids are still going on to arrest some other farmer leaders,” he wrote on X.

Representatives of nine farmer unions in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand announced a tractor rally in Chandigarh to press the Union government to compensate for the losses they suffered due to the floods. Officials expected around 10,000 farmers to join the protest.

Rapid Action Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Reserve Police Force, and Chandigarh police personnel were deployed at 27 exit and entry points to the Union Territory.

Chandigarh’s senior police superintendent Kanwardeep Kaur they would not allow the farmers to protest in the city at any cost. “Thus, we are going to deploy the maximum force possible to stop them. Moreover, we will seal the crucial entry and exits if needed to avoid any disturbance to law and order here as farmers from Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and other states have announced they will be here. The entries from Mohali and Panchkula will be properly manned.”

A traffic officer said route diversions will be carried out immediately in case any entry or exit point is sealed. “We have held coordination meetings with the police of the neighbouring states and requested them to stop processions of farmers from reaching Chandigarh so that they do not block more traffic routes here. If the farmers manage to reach here, we will barricade the roads immediately as a heavy force will remain deployed at the crucial spots,” the police officer said.

On Sunday, Punjab governor and Chandigarh administrator Banwarilal Purohit met 11 representatives of farmer unions and assured them he will convey their demands to the Union government.

Inspector-general Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said elaborate security arrangements have been made to maintain law and order. Police in Mohali near Chandigarh have put up three-tier check posts.

Panchkula assistant police commissioner Surender Kumar Yadav said talks were on with farmer leaders. “Farmers have informed us that maximum participation will be from Punjab. All arrangements are in place to ensure that law and order is not disturbed. We will place barricades at least at three border areas adjoining Chandigarh.”

Farmers have threatened to stage sit in and block traffic wherever they are stopped. Since January 7, Sikh activists, under the banner of Qaumi Insaaf Morcha, have been protesting in Mohali, blocking traffic movement on the crucial Chandigarh-Mohali route.

Farmers from Ambala, Kurukshetra were likely to gather at the Shambhu toll on the Haryana-Punjab border. Police were on alert at the border and reinforcements were expected to be sent there. Farmers have been blocking toll plazas across Punjab.