Farmers' Chakka Jam ends with no major impact, Rakesh Tikait's ultimatum to govt | Top points

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The three-hour-long nationwide 'chakka jam' by protesting farmers was held on Saturday amid tight security, even as there was no such event in the national capital which was turned into a fortress with heavy security deployment by the Delhi Police, paramilitary and reserve forces personnel to prevent any untoward situation. The Delhi Police had also used drone cameras to keep a tight vigil at protest sites. Although, the impact of chakka jam was seen in other parts of the country including Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Punjab and other places.

Chakka Jam by farmers | Top Points

• Ten Delhi Metro stations, including Mandi House and ITO, were closed for the duration of the 'chakka jam' from 12 noon to 3 pm, and reopened after the protest ended.
• Around 50 people were detained near Shaheedi Park in central Delhi for allegedly holding an agitation in support of the 'chakka jam’.
• The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmer unions protesting against the Centre’s three farm laws, had said on Friday that the protesters would not block roads in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand during the 'chakka jam', even as it asserted that peasants in other parts of the country would block national and state highways for three hours, but in a peaceful way.
• However, in view of the Republic Day violence that had left 500 security personnel injured and one protestor dead, the Delhi Police had made additional measures, including tightening security and intensifying vigil across the city and its border points.

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• Security forces were deployed at important junctions across the national capital, including Red Fort and ITO, which had witnessed violence during the January 26 tractor rally organised by the protesting farmers.
• Multilayered barricades, barbed wires and nail-studded roads at the protest sites were also part of the precautionary measures taken by the police force.
• The police also monitored content on social media to keep a watch on those spreading rumours against the force, officials said.
• Earlier in the day, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), in a series of tweets, informed commuters that multiple stations have been closed.
• "Security Update Entry/exit gates of Mandi House, ITO and Delhi Gate are closed," it tweeted. The DMRC later tweeted that entry and exit gates of Vishwavidyalaya station were also closed.
• "Entry/exit gates of Lal Quila, Jama Masjid, Janpath and Central Secretariat are closed. Interchange facility is available. Entry/exit gates of Khan Market and Nehru Place are closed,” it tweeted.
• In the evening, the Delhi Metro stated that entry and exit gates of all 10 metro stations closed in view of 'chakka jam' had been re-opened, and normal service had resumed.
• At all the three main protest sites, farmers camping there for over 70 days were busy with routine affairs and there was not much activity on Saturday.

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• Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Deepak Yadav said although the protestors had maintained that they would not enter the national capital, the security force as a precautionary measure had made adequate arrangements to maintain law and order.
• "There are additional deployment of pickets at all the border points. All vehicles are being checked thoroughly at the entry and exit points of pickets and borders. Additional buses had been taken and extra barricades put up at the picket points across the city," he said.
• Meanwhile, thousands of farmers blocked the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway in Haryana. Those coming to the stretch with their vehicles were politely informed about the protest and requested to turn back. Biscuits and fruits were distributed to the protesting farmers.
• “I came to the stretch at 11 am. There were very few people then, but in no time many started gathering and now it is full. The purpose is to remain peaceful and do just what is instructed to us by our leaders -- block the road till 3 pm, " Mukesh Sharma, a local farmer supporting the movement, said earlier in the day.
• After the violence on January 26, Delhi Police Commissioner S N Srivastava had accused the protesting farmer union leaders of betrayal and breaching the agreement as thousands of peasants deviated from their pre-decided routes for the tractor parade.
• Tens of thousands of farmers atop tractors had broken barriers, clashed with police and entered the city from various points to lay siege to the Red Fort on Republic Day.
• Thousands of peasants, workers, tribals, political and social activists, including many women, took to the roads and highways across Maharashtra as part of the nationwide 'Chakka Jaam', to demand scrapping of the three farm laws and express solidarity with the farmers' protests in Delhi, here on Saturday.

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• Activists blocked prominent roads, state or national highways and other important thoroughfares in 34 of the state's 36 districts - including Mumbai and excluding Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg - squatted and halted traffic, waved banners and placards, shouted slogans and sang devotional or patriotic songs, amid tight police security, according to All India Kisan Sabha spokesperson P.S. Prasad.
• Barring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the agitation saw the participation of all major parties like Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party, Congress, the Left parties, farmers' organisations like All India Kisan Sabha, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, Bharatiya Kisan Sena, etc.
• "The agitation was near-total in places like Palghar, Thane, Raigad, Pune, Kolhapur, Solapur, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Osmanabad, and others with farmers, workers and political activists participating peacefully in huge numbers," Prasad said.
• After the scheduled three-hours, the agitation was called off peacefully with activists and participants returning to their homes and normal vehicular traffic resumed at all the affected sport, said officials.
• Earlier this afternoon, police detained farmers' leader and Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavlamban Mission President, Kishore Tiwari, who is accorded a MoS status, while leading a 'chakka jam' protest on the national highway in Yavatmal.

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• Leading an agitation in Kolhapur, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) President Raju Shetti said that the so-called celebrities speaking in favour of the BJP-ruled central government forget that it is the "crores of ordinary masses" who have raised them to their celeb status.
• "These people are doing a lot of 'teev-teev' (referring to the tweets), but once the people dump them, even a dog won't sniff at the celebs," Shetti warned.
• He warned that the farmers agitation would be intensified by laying siege to the income tax and GST offices if the government fails to revoke the three farm laws.
• While All India Kisan Sabha leaders like Ashok Dhawale, Ajit Nawale, led the protestors in different districts, CPI(M) legislator Vinod B. Nikole led the blockade by hundreds of farmers and labourers on the highway in Ahmednagar.
• Expressing support to the farmers in Delhi, NCP State President Jayant Patil said this is the first time in Independent India that a central government was "hiding from the people" in such a manner.
• "The government is scared to face the people, the farmers and the workers. Hence it is resorting to tactics like hammering nails and barricades on roads" Patil said.
• In Nashik, SSS state president Sandeep Jagtap spearheaded the 'chakka jam', Buldhana SSS leader Prashant Dikkar led the protestors on the highways.
• 'Chakka jam' were organised in other districts like Jalna, Beed, Latur, Nagpur, Nanded, Washim, Parbhani, Nandurbar, Dhule, Jalgaon, Aurangabad, Gadchiroli, Amravati, by various leaders, affecting traffic movement to Union Territories of Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, states of Goa, Karnataka, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat.

(With inputs from IANS)

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