SC to hear plea seeking suspension of farmers' protest at Delhi borders until COVID ends

As cases in the national capital surge, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud on Monday, will hear a plea demanding suspension of the farmers' protests at Delhi borders amid COVID-19 surge.  The plea seeks directions to remove protestors from Delhi and its borders and to issue guidelines to States/UTs to stop protests till the end of the pandemic. Farmers have refused to budge from Delhi's borders inspite of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh going under lockdown, but have been cooperating by allowing oxygen tankers to pass through highways.

SC to hear plea seeking farmers' removal from Delhi borders

On Saturday, in Punjab, 32 farmer unions, protesting the Central farm laws held street protests against the lockdown in the state and had urged shopkeepers to defy the restrictions. Despite appeals, shopkeepers in Punjab kept their shops shut on Saturday. Amid a second wave of COVID-19, farmers took out protest marches at several places, including Moga, Patiala, Amritsar, Ajnala, Nabha, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Bathinda. Carrying flags of their unions, farmers, including women, took out marches in the markets and appealed to shopkeepers and traders through loudspeakers to open their shops, flouting COVID guidelines, with most not wearing masks. Punjab has one of the highest COVID fatality in India.

On May 1, BKU spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said that if he gets a 'guarantee' that the pandemic will end if farmers' protest is called off, he will do so. "The farmers' protest is a parliamentary issue. We will not go back without our demands being met. Delhi is suffering because of  COVID and we are helping them. If ending the protest will help to end COVID, we will end it. Give us this guarantee," said Tikait.

Farmers protests

After completing a peaceful 'Chakka Jam' across India except in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Tikait and other BKU leaders toured poll-bound Assam, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry seeking farmers' support against the Centre's Farm Laws, urging them to not vote for BJP. Moreover, after the violence witnessed on Republic Day, Delhi police fortified the city borders by cementing nails near barricades, deploying additional troops, adding barbed wires etc at Ghazipur (Delhi-Uttar Pradesh) and Tikri (Delhi-Haryana) borders, blocking access to the roads completely. MHA had snapped off internet across all three border areas - Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur and later extended the ban to 1-2 days more. Farmers have reiterated 'No Ghar Wapsi till Law Wapsi', as the 3-month protests have caught several international celebrities' interest online. The SC-appointed panel has submitted its report to the apex court after holding several rounds of talks with many farmer unions, trade unions, manufacturers, food processing units etc.