Rihanna enters Farmers' protest fray; remarks on current escalation at Delhi's borders

Barbadian pop star Rihanna took to her Twitter handle to comment on the ongoing farmers' protest in the capital city of India. She shared CNN's story on the current state of farmers' protest and exclaimed, "why aren’t we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest."

For over two months, thousands of farmers have been protesting at the Delhi borders seeking the repeal of three farm laws passed by the Parliament. At present, the Supreme Court has stayed the implementation of the farm laws and formed a committee to resolve the ongoing impasse.

why aren’t we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest https://t.co/obmIlXhK9S

— Rihanna (@rihanna)

Rihanna is the first International pop icon to comment on the ongoing farmers' protest in India. The report shared by her talks about the Internet ban in the areas where the farmers' are protesting. Before her, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters recited Delhi student Aamir Aziz's anti-CAA viral poem 'Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega' at a protest in London.

Meanwhile, security remained tightened at the Ghazipur and Tikri borders of the national capital in view of the ongoing farmers' protest against the central farm laws. The Delhi Police has cemented nails near barricades at Ghazipur (Delhi-Uttar Pradesh) and Tikri (Delhi-Haryana) borders, according to news agency ANI. Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava had visited the Ghazipur border on Monday to inspect the security arrangements.

Ghazipur & Tikri borders 'tractor-proofed'; Singhvi slams AAP's 'send Punjab police' idea

Also, police have heavily barricaded the Ghazipur border. Barbed wire and cement barricades have been planted on the roads to restrict the movement of the farmers. Meanwhile, workers under the watch of police personnel on Monday hooked iron rods between two rows of cement barriers on a flank of the main highway at the Singhu border to further restrict the movement of protesters agitating against the new farm laws at the site. Another portion of the highway at the Delhi-Haryana border is practically blocked now as a makeshift cement wall has come up there.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday released an official statement on the violence witnessed by the national capital on Republic Day, revealing that the Delhi Police had filed 39 cases against the agitators between September 2020 to January 2021. 

Giving a blow-by-blow account of the Republic Day violence, the MHA stated that as per the Delhi Police, large convoys of protesting farmers in tractor trollies tried to furiously go past the police barricades, to enter the capital, taking law and order in their hand. It further revealed how protestors, in turn, used 'criminal force' to deter public servants from performing their duties, inflicting damage to public property and the police personnel.

'Doubts over three farm laws should be cleared by Budget 2021': Union Agri Minister Tomar

Jan 26 violence

On January 26, the farmers' rally took a violent turn after groups of farmers broke police barricades at the Delhi border to enter the national capital before the allocated time. Apart from this, some protesters did not follow the pre-decided routes and instead proceeded towards Central Delhi. As per visuals, some of the protesters vandalised a DTC bus and drove tractors to deliberately run over the police personnel at ITO in central Delhi.

In a clear violation of the conditions laid down by the police, farmers were seen carrying sticks and riding horses. Thereafter, the anti-farm laws protesters entered the premises of the Red Fort and unfurled their own flags from its ramparts. While the situation was brought under control by the end of the day, the untoward incidents provoked outrage from scores of people across the country.