“We will pay homage to all the farmers who have been martyred,” said BKU President

Yesterday, the farmers’ groups lodging on Delhi’s borders to protest against three laws enacted by the Centre to start up agricultural trade challenged the government of requiring sympathy for their community. They declared a day of grief for the farmers who they insist have died during their campaign.

Jagjit Singh Dallewala, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Sidhupur), said, “On an average, one farmer has died every day since this agitation started on November 26. We will pay homage to all the farmers who have been martyred in this duration on December 20 across all villages in the country.” “When their names and photos will reach villages, more people will come forward to join us in our struggle.”

Yudhvir Singh Sehrawat, general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Tikait) said, “We elected the PM and gave him the power to speak and yet he didn’t speak for us in the past 20 days.” Rajveer Singh Jadhon, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union’s UP unit said, “The Uttar Pradesh government has been stopping farmers from proceeding to Delhi. Many representatives of farmers have been kept under house arrest. We will not tolerate this. If the government continues harassing farmers, we will have no choice but to escalate our agitation to Lucknow and at local levels in Uttar Pradesh. If required, we may block the entire Delhi-Meerut expressway again.”