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Fifteen hours after they reached Delhi, over 800 farmers of Bharti Kisan Union (Ugrahan) were finally allowed to join the Shaheen Bagh protest.
The farmers (both men and women) had started for Delhi from Sangrur in eight buses along with ration on Tuesday morning, but were stopped by the Delhi police at Sarita Vihar, 3 km before the protest site.
“They all were taken to Gurdwara Bala Sahib in that area. They were finally allowed to march towards the protest site only on Wednesday, around noon. It is really sad that our members were stopped and harassed overnight. Hence, we burnt effigies of the central government at 52 places in Punjab, as everything was done by the police at their behest,” said Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan, general secretary of BKU (Ugrahan).
He added: “It is really surprising that the farmers were stopped. On January 15 as well, we had visited Shaheen Bagh for a day. On February 3, a group from Punjab Kisan Union (PKU) had gone to the protest site. The protest is being given a colour, that it is by anti-nationals and by a particular religion… hence, support from Punjab brothers and sisters proves its secular nature. And not just Punjab, like-minded people from across the country are coming to Shaheen Bagh.”
The PKU group will start for Punjab on February 5 night, while BKU(Ugrahan) group will stay at Shaheen Bagh till February 8 evening.
Meanwhile, effigies were burnt Wednesday at Bhikhi, Budhlada in Mansa, Khudial, Jakhepal, Shahpur, Lehragaga, Shero, Bhawanigarh, Malerkotla , Dhuri etc in Sangrur, Dhanaula, Tapa, Mehalkalan etc in Barnala and many places in Bathinda, Muktsar, Fazilka, Ferozepur, Gurdaspura, Ludhiana, Amritsar districts.