20,000 Kisan Sena members to march to Delhi in support of farm laws tomorrow

Noida, Dec 23: Farmer union Kisan Sena said thousands of its members from western Uttar Pradesh will march to Delhi on Thursday in support of the Centre's new agriculture laws.

The march will have members joining from the Braj area, which includes districts like Mathura, Agra, Firozabad, Hathras and also have supporters joining from Meerut and Muzaffarnagar in western UP, the union said.

"We have written to the authorities concerned for permission regarding our march to Delhi but have not got reply. In any case, around 20,000 of Kisan Sena supporters will be en route to Delhi to meet Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday," Kisan Sena convener Thakur Gauri Shankar Singh told news agency PTI.

"We want to meet the minister and inform him that the ongoing protests on Delhi's borders by unions from Punjab and Haryana no doubt comprise farmers but they do not represent farmers of all India or other states like UP," Mr Singh said.

He added that his faction will apprise the government of the issues that affect farmers in other states and in UP.

Asked about plans if his union members are not allowed to move to Delhi, he said the situation will be dealt with as per the conditions on Thursday but affirmed going ahead with the planned march.

The Kisan Sena's march is scheduled even as farmers' union like the Bharatiya Kisan Union and its splinter groups from UP stay pitched in Ghaziabad and Noida since over three weeks now, demanding that the three new farm laws be repealed.

The protesters who have gathered in Ghaziabad and Noida want to go to Delhi to join the bigger stir called mainly by farmer unions of Punjab and Haryana.

Thousands of farmers are currently camped outside Delhi's borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in protest against the three new farm laws - the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

They have expressed apprehension that these laws will pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporations. However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring farmers better opportunities and usher in new technologies in agriculture.