Farmers' stir: Preparations on for Jan 26 tractor rally

The farmers sitting at the Ghazipur, Singhu and Tikri borders have been making preparations for the tractor rally. 

Joginder Singh, the farmer leader of Punjab's Malwa region and President of the Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta (Ugrahan), said more farmers were marching towards Delhi along with their tractors from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and other provinces of the country to take part in the tractor rally. 

"Volunteers have been assigned specific works for the farmers' parade", he said, adding that more than one lakh tractors were ready to take part in the parade, and women too would march to Delhi in open trolleys. 

The leaders said they were making preparations to carry out the farmers Republic Parade on the outer ring road within the National Capital Region (NCR). 

Punjab farmer leader and General Secretary of the BKU, Parminder Singh Pal Majra, said lakhs of farmers would participate in the rally. He informed that this rally would take place within a radius of 100 km in the NCR. 

The farmer unions have clearly said they would carry out the tractor rally in a peaceful manner. 

Earlier, the unions held talks with the Delhi Police on Saturday where the former claimed to have taken permission to carry out a tractor rally, while the police said the talks were in final stages. 

The farmers have been demanding a repeal of the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020, implemented by the Central government last year as well as the legal guarantee for the procurement of crops at the Minimum Support Price (MSP). 

The farmers have been sitting on protest at the Delhi borders since November 26 last year. 

The farmers' unions have held 11-rounds of talks with the Central government so far.