Farmers took out a sadbhavna rally near Singhu border to express their solidarity with the cause but the scene turned violent with the protesters resorting to stone pelting. Police also lathicharged and used tear gas shells on the agitators.
The protest gathered momentum, hours after most farmers had vacated their protest sites near Ghazipur and Singhu border near Delhi after Bharat Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait cried on camera, urging farmers to stay back. Mr Tikait was reacting to increased presence of cops near the Ghazipur border after the Uttar Pradesh government asked the protestors to vacate the site, under section 133.
According to a Hindustan Times report, station house officer (SHO) of Alipur was stabbed when farmers and locals began stone-pelting. Apparently, the locals have asked protesters to vacate the region.
Expressing their solidarity with the protesting farmers in the national capital, at least 18 leaders of opposition parties boycotted President’s customary address to a joint sitting of Parliament. The address is scheduled ahead of the budget session on February 1, Monday. Appealing them to attend the session, union minister of parliamentary affairs Pralhad Joshi and said, “the government is ready to discuss all issues threadbare”.
During the address, President Ramnath Kovind said, “The insult to the Tricolour on Republic Day is very unfortunate. The Constitution that gives us the right to freedom of expression, is the same Constitution that teaches us that law and rule should be followed equally seriously. My government wants to make it clear that before the formation of the three new agricultural laws, there was no reduction in the rights and facilities which were under the old system. Rather, through these agricultural reforms, the government has given new rights to farmers.”