The Punjab Police started clearing the Shambhu and Khanauri border sites where farmer protests have been on since February last year on Wednesday evening, with the two leaders spearheading the agitation detained earlier in the day.
Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) leader Sarvan Singh Pandher and Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non Political) leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal were detained while they were on their way back to Shambhu and Khanauri, respectively, after talks with the Centre. Sources said the discussions were inconclusive with Minister of Industry and Trade Piyush Goyal taking an assertive stand on their MSP demand.
Just hours earlier, amid swirling speculation about such an action being planned by the Punjab government, the state authorities had assured farmer leaders that no such crackdown was in the works.
By late Wednesday, all the farmers sitting at the Khanauri and Shambhu border sites had been detained. The authorities cut off electricity supply on both sides of the highways at the sites, and police used torches for the operation. Before his force moved in at the Khanauri border, Patiala DIG Mandeep Singh Sidhu told the farmers to get onto the buses ferrying the protesters away on their own.
“We are over 3,000 in strength and you are only a few hundred. We will clear the site, come what may. Your leaders have already been detained at Chandigarh… We don’t want to use force,” he appealed.
Dallewal, who has been on a fast unto death since November last year, and Pandher were detained as soon as they entered the Punjab border from Chandigarh, where the talks with Union ministers Goyal, Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Agriculture) and Pralhad Joshi (Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution) were held. Dallewal’s ambulance was reportedly taken over by police near Zirakpur, while Pandher was detained at Mohali.
Farmer leaders and others accompanying Dallewal and Pandher were also detained. Sources said Dallewal was taken to a hospital and Pandher sent to the Commando Training Centre at Bahadurgarh in Patiala.
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The AAP government had so far shown reluctance to take any harsh action against the protesting farmers, despite several rounds of failed talks. On Wednesday, the Union ministers reportedly told the farmers that the data provided by them to seek MSP for all crops was not satisfactory. May 4 was fixed as the date for the next round of talks.
Sources said the decision to act against the protest was finally taken after AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwalwho is in Punjab, received feedback from traders in Ludhiana that the party would not get their votes in the coming Ludhiana West Assembly by-elections if the blockade by the farmers, which was hitting business, was not ended.
The government reportedly devised an action plan in the last two days, and the two farmer leaders were trailed by police on Wednesday from the time they left the meeting venue in Chandigarh. The authorities didn’t want to pick the two up from the protest sites as that could have led to trouble.
Punjab had been abuzz that such an action was coming – especially since Tuesday night – after security was stepped up at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points, and water cannons, cranes and trolleys were deployed.
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Saying they were all confused, a farmer at the Khanauri protest site told The Indian Express that around 500 of them were present when the police came. “The gathering was thin as a new batch of farmers was to come on March 21,” he said, adding that Internet facilities had been curbed and they were unable to share photos and videos from the sites.
Till late on Wednesday, police were pulling down the tents and removing the trolleys used by the farmers for their sit-in.
