Delhi Roads Choke as Farmers from Various States Descend on Jantar Mantar

New Delhi: Thousands of farmers from various states descended at the Jantar Mantar here on Monday to participate in a ‘mahapanchayat’ to demand proper implementation of minimum support price (MSP) for the crops. They raised slogans for farmer unity and against the Centre for ‘not fulfilling’ its promises.

Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) had given a call for holding Kisan Mahapanchayat in the national capital on Monday. The farmers are also protesting against the rampant unemployment across the country. 

A huge gathering of farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and other states in New Delhi and barricades at all the entry points of the city led to chaos and traffic jams at several places. Police detained some farmers when they broke the barricades put up by the Delhi Police at Jantar Mantar. 

The Delhi Police denied the claim of SKM leaders that at some locations, farmers were being stopped from reaching Jantar Mantar. Abhimanyu Singh Kohar, one of the organisers of the ‘ Kisan mahapanchayat’, said this is a daylong peaceful event. 

“So here we are again to raise our demands (such as a legal guarantee on the MSP and the cancellation of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022 among others) and chalk out the future strategy of the movement,” Kohar said.

#Farmers hold protest at #Delhi's Jantar Mantar demanding the proper implementation of minimum support price for the crops. #FarmersProtest #Trending #Viralvideo #India pic.twitter.com/SBmunGXPQI

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Commuters had a tough time navigating the traffic snarls at Ghazipur, Singhu and Tikri borders including key road connectivity the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, the Palam flyover, Aurobindo Marg, Ring Road (near Indraprastha Park), the Ghaziabad-Wazirabad road and the Munirka road.   

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Key demands of Samyukta Kisan Morcha:

1. Justice to the farmers' families who lost their loved ones in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident. The arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni and release of farmers who are languishing in jail for months
2. A legislation on the minimum support price (MSP) for crops
3. Farm loan waiver for all the farmers of the country
4. Electricity Amendment Bill 2022 should be cancelled
5. Increase of support price of sugarcane and cane arrears should be paid immediately
6. India should quit WTO and cancel all Free Trade Agreements
7. Cases filed during the farmer’s movement should be withdrawn
8. Immediate release of outstanding compensation of farmers 
9. Withdraw Agnipath scheme