What Turned a Tractor Parade into a Violent Mess? The Real Villain of the Chaos on Republic Day
There were many security measures in place. Police personnel were deployed to control the protests and there were also farmers who had agreed earlier to help the cops in maintaining peace and order. Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) had also given its assurance that peace and order will be maintained. Routes were also planned where the farmers were supposed to be rallying and protesting. However, despite all of these safety measures and precautions, the protest which began quite peacefully, ended up bitterly with the commission of vandalism by the protesters and violent clashes with the police who at first showed considerable restraint in yesterday’s rally.
There were many security measures in place. Police
personnel were deployed to control the protests and there were also farmers who
had agreed earlier to help the cops in maintaining peace and order. Sanyukta
Kisan Morcha (SKM) had also given its assurance that peace and order will be
maintained. Routes were also planned where the farmers were supposed to be
rallying and protesting. However, despite all of these safety measures and
precautions, the protest which began quite peacefully, ended up bitterly with
the commission of vandalism by the protesters and violent clashes with the
police who at first showed considerable restraint in yesterday’s rally.
The protesters entered the capital through three
border points which were, Singhu, Tikri, and the Ghazipur border, and it was agreed between
the police and the protesters that they would not enter and interrupt the annual Republic Day parade in central
Delhi. Therefore, on this agreement, the routes were planned which was largely
confined to areas which were in the outskirts and the time for the holding of
the rally was also pre-determined which was supposed to be from noon to 05:00
P.M.
Ahead of the scheduled time, as early as
8:00 A.M., the protesters in Singhu and Ghazipur border had already made their
way through the barricades to push towards Delhi Central. And after a short
while, the barricades blocking the way to the capital in Tikri was also
breached. 6000- 7000 tractors made their way into Delhi Central by 10:00 A.M.
By this time, the protesters had already violated almost all of the mutually
agreed terms. By 11:00 A.M., several layers of barricades between Mukarba Chowk
and Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar were broken.
At the same time, the farmers in Ghazipur were
making their way to ITO, via Akshardham. Barricades placed at Akshardham were
also broken by the farmers after they rammed their tractors directly on to them.
The protest now made its way to ITO where the police offered stiff
resistance.
At ITO, while tear gasses were fired to control the crowd, some protesters drove their tractors very dangerously with the clear intention of grievously hurting the police personnel. It wasn’t until reinforcements arrived after the end of the Republic Day Parade that the entry into the capital could be repelled effectively.
The protesters then split into more than two groups which headed in different directions. One such group made their way towards the Parliament, while another group headed towards the Red Fort. Upon reaching and seizing the Red Fort, the protesters raised the Nishan Sahib Flag, while attacking several police personnel. Many police personnel who were trying to evade the confrontation by the farmers bearing sticks and swords were found to be hanging from the ramparts of the Red Fort, eventually falling down and getting injured.
The situation remained tense at the Red Fort till
evening, before finally, the protesting crowd was removed.
At the end of the day, it is estimated that at least
2, 00,000 to 2, 50,000 protesters had turned up for the rally and given the
occasion of the day, the personnel who were deployed for the purpose of maintaining
the order and peace of the rally were only around 20,000 to 30,000. Therefore
they were greatly outnumbered. The same was also mentioned in the statement
released by the Delhi Police. In the incident that had occurred, 86 policemen
and at least 10 farmers were injured, and one farmer was dead, after the
tractor he was driving overturned when he crashed into a barricade.
The Commissioner of Police, S N Shrivastava reported
to ANI (Asian News International) news agency stating, “The time and the routes for the tractor rally were finalized after
several rounds of meetings. But farmers drove tractors off the routes and
before the fixed time, leading to vandalism in which many police personnel was
injured”.
Intelligence officers point out several factors that caused such a drastic turn of events. According to them, the lack of control by the leaders on the protesting farmers was the main reason why the situation went out of hand. While the leaders of the protests, stuck to their pre-determined routes, some factions from within these groups decided to march ahead into the capital without paying heed to their leaders. When the situation began to get worse, the leaders disappeared and all that was left was a headless body of protesters. The leaders conveyed their inability to control the crowd to the Police, who were already outnumbered by the sheer size of the protesters marching towards the capital.
Dharmender Malik, a spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan
Union(BKU), stated as such, “Many
anti-social elements and others from political parties also entered our rally.
They were the ones who were violent”. Therefore, what could be inferred is
that there was an attempt to sway the protest towards agitation by a certain
sect which unfortunately succeeded and the whole protest had turned from
peaceful to chaotic.
Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police, Alok Kumar, told
a news agency that police would take action against those who had assaulted the
police personnel and who had damaged public property.
Written by :
Danny Louis David
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