Delhi Police Or Farmers - Who Was Blocking Delhi Borders At Tikri, Singhu And Ghazipur? We Will Get To Know Soon

Almost 11 months after the closing of important border points of Delhi with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh chiefly Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, Delhi Police have finally moved to remove the multi-layered barricades which were put up in late November last year to stop thousands of farmers from entering the national capital.

As a counter, farmers pitched their tents running over hundreds of meters blocking both sides of the roads and have been camping on the roads since then. Both the government and the protestors have engaged in blame game and accused each other of blocking the roads.

But now with Police taking the initiative to remove the obstacles put up by them, truth is expected to emerge soon.

Last week, the Supreme Court had said that while farmers have the right to protest, they cannot keep roads blocked indefinitely. “You may have a right to agitate in any manner but roads should not be blocked like this. People have the right to go on roads but it cannot be blocked,” the bench headed by Justice SK Kaul and comprising Justice M M Sundresh said.

After this, farm union leader Rakesh Tikait along with his supporters started removing their tents to show that farmers are not the ones who have blocked the roads willingly. “The protesters have removed their tents but barricades have been put by the government and the Delhi Police which are still there. The road is otherwise open. If you see, there are only barricades which have been put by the police,” Tikait said.

As per DCP (East district) Priyanka Kashyap, traffic movement is likely to start in the coming days.

Similar scenes of JCB machines removing multiple layers of iron and cement barriers and labourers pulling out studded nails on the roads were seen at Tikri Border as well. However, opening this point or Singhu border will not be as easy as Ghazipur one not just because more farmers are camped here but also because they hail from Punjab and Haryana and are likely to be more confrontational. There is a good chance that Punjab farmers and unions may not follow Tikait on this issue and may decide to keep their tents as it is.

Last month, Haryana government had formed a committee to negotiate with protestors to open Tikri and Singhu borders. Earlier this week, it held a meeting with representatives of the protesting farmers where a farmer leader had said no road had been blocked from their side. "The entire responsibility to open roads is on the Delhi Police as the way has been blocked towards the other side," he had said.

However, in a meeting held yesterday between the Jhajjar administration, Delhi Police officials, farmers at the Tikri border and industrialists in Bahadurgarh, talks are reported to have remained inconclusive because farmers refused the proposal to let non-commercial four-wheelers to ply on one side of the road.

“We are ready to give 5 feet path to two-wheelers and ambulances to cross the Tikri border, but cannot allow opening up one side of the highway for four-wheelers, as it may pose a threat to safety of the farmers who have been staying put along the highway for the past 11 months. The issue will now be discussed at the Samyukt Kisan Morch (SKM)’s meeting scheduled on November 6 and till then, the border remains shut as usual,” Buta Singh, a farmer leader, was quoted saying after the meeting.

One wonders that if farmers are not blocking the road, how come they are dictating that the government can give only five feet path and not allow four-wheelers to go through.

Even the Delhi Police said that there are plans to open emergency routes at Tikri border (Delhi-Haryana) & Ghazipur border (Delhi-UP) and ‘the barricades placed at the borders will be removed after getting farmers' consensus’. If only Police was responsible for the blockade, it makes little sense it would be waiting for consensus among farmers to emerge.

Nonetheless, it’s important that the three main border roads at Singhu, TIkri open for traffic as soon as possible because satellite cities in the NCR like Bahadurgarh and Sonipat are suffering the most. Already, an irreparable damage has been done to these emerging industrial townships in the past one year with businesses and industrialists thinking of moving out. One hopes that this decline will be arrested soon.