On 13th February, farmers from Punjab, Haryana and other states marched towards Delhi, aiming to get their demands fulfilled by the Government of India. Around 200 farmer unions are participating in the protests.
While police and rapid action forces attempted to stop them from entering the national capital, there were visuals confirming the farmer protests of 2024 had already been infiltrated by pro-Khalistani elements and ‘aandolanjeevis’.
On 12th February, a video surfaced on social media where one of the alleged protesters demanded Khalistan on camera.
YouTube-based news channel from Haryana, Satya Khabar, shared the video where a few Sikh men demanded the formation of Khalistan. One of them said, “We are standing at the Singhu border where you have placed barricades. Do one thing: permanently close the Haryana border. We will open [border with] Pakistan. You have separated us from India. Let us be separated.”
He then targeted the Central Government and said, “Modi government does not like Punjab. If they do not like Punjab, let us leave. Let us build a separate nation, Khalistan. We will join Pakistan.” He added, “We did not create walls; you did. You have separated us from India. Let us create Khalistan.”
Interestingly, Sikhs in the video claimed they wanted to go to the airport and were stopped. Maybe they forgot the state has three international and nine domestic airports.
Furthermore, on one hand, they said they came to see if there were barricades to stop farmers; on the other hand, they claimed they were travelling to the airport in Delhi.
He then added, “We will sell our crops ourselves. Let us be separate.” Wasn’t this the aim of the three agriculture laws that farmer unions forced the Central Government to repeal in 2021 by providing them with channels to sell crops at a broader spectrum to private players? Now they are saying that they want to sell their crop themselves.
The Sikh man then targeted the Hindu religion and said, “Lakhs of trollies are coming from Amritsar. There are langars everywhere. Are these Hindus capable of doing langars? They come [to our langars] dying of hunger. They cannot even arrange rice, kadhi and poori. But here, [we will] serve ladoo, jalebi and poori.” The funny thing is they pretended to be unaware that most of the temples across India run free kitchens. There are hundreds of temples in India that not only serve free food on their premises but also serve food at hospitals, etc., without doing ho-halla about it.
The man continued to claim that no other state produces the amount of “food like Punjab”. In reality, Punjab is not the largest producer of grains, specifically wheat and rice. The largest producer of rice is West Bengal, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and then Punjab. The same goes for wheat, where Uttar Pradesh is the largest producer, followed by Madhya Pradesh and then Punjab.
All of them talked as if they were irked by the administration stopping them from entering Delhi and putting up barricades to stop them.
In another video, a reporter of Punjab Kesari Haryana talked to a Nihang Sikh who was standing on a tractor. When asked about the plan for the protest, he said, “Army [of farmers] is coming. We are going to enter [Delhi] by any means.” When asked if he had any faith that the government would agree to demands, he said, “There is no hope. They cheated us. 700 farmers died. We lost Deep Sidhu. We have no hope. We want free Punjab. Khalistan Punjab.”
Farmers protest toh bas ek bahana hai, asli maksad to ye hai pic.twitter.com/f6NSOH6aBo
— Madhur Singh (@ThePlacardGuy) February 13, 2024
The person in the second video claimed “they lost Deep Sidhu”. Farmer protests ended in November 2021 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi repealed them. Deep Sidhu died in a road accident in February 2022. How his death was related to farmer protests is unclear.
Intelligence report alert about farmers’ protest 2.0
Protesting farmers from neighbouring states Haryana and Punjab have been marching towards Delhi to kick off a massive protest in Delhi. More than 200 farmers’ unions, including the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, had announced a ‘Delhi Chalo’ march scheduled for 13th February (Tuesday) seeking a legal guarantee for MSP and other demands.
Apart from drafting a law on MSP, the protesting farmers have been demanding that India should quit the World Trade Organisation (WTO), halt trade agreements with other nations, and a monthly pension of Rs 10,000 to farmers who attain the age of 60 years among others.
According to an intelligence report on the farmers’ protest 2.0, thousands of farmers marching towards Delhi could use remote and non-motorable borders of Delhi as potential entry points. The intel also alerts that the protesting farmers could be eyeing Prime Minister House, and Home Minister Houses as potential protest targets. The farmers have also planned to come in small groups and hide in gurudwaras, Dharamshala, ashrams, and guest houses around Delhi to hold snap protests, the intel report alerts.
