After midnight visit to Kisan Ghat, farmers pack up and head home

As farmers tried to break through the barricades, police lobbed teargas shells and used water cannons and lathicharged them. The march then turned into a sit-in under the Ghazipur flyover.

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Kisan Kranti Padyatra: Police use water cannons at protesting farmers on the UP-Delhi border in Vaishali, Ghaziabad, Tuesday. (Express Photo by Gajendra Yadav)

Farmers who were stopped on the Uttar Pradesh-Delhi border on Tuesday were allowed inside the capital around midnight, following which they marched to the memorials of Mahatma Gandhi as well as Chaudhary Charan Singh at Kisan Ghat. The farmers ended their protest after reaching Kisan Ghat, concluding the 10-day long Kisan Kranti Yatra that had started from Haridwar on September 23.

On Tuesday, farmers had planned to march to Delhi from the UP border to reach Kisan Ghat on Gandhi Jayanti. The border was, however, sealed and fortified by the Delhi Police along with RAF and RRF personnel.

As farmers tried to break through the barricades, police lobbed teargas shells and used water cannons and lathicharged them. The march then turned into a sit-in under the Ghazipur flyover, waiting for news from a delegation that went to meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

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“The aim of the yatra was to reach Kisan Ghat and we couldn’t leave without reaching it. Around 12.30 am, police finally made way for us and we marched there. We reached around 1.30 am and placed flowers at the memorials of Chaudhury Charan Singh and Mahatma Gandhi,” said Bhartiya Kisan Union national head Rakesh Tikait.

Delhi Police spokesperson Madhur Verma said, “After their assurance, we permitted a peace march from where they all dispersed.” The farmers began returning to their villages around 4 am, while those whose tractors were damaged by the police in the clashes waited at the Ghazipur flyover as Ghaziabad police overlooked the repair of their vehicles.

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