Congress leaders on Wednesday questioned the police action against the farmer’s leaders after the clashes on Tuesday between the farmers and the police during the tractor rally in New Delhi.
Punjab Congress MP Jasbir Singh Gill Tampa, who is protesting against the farm laws said, “Has anybody noticed any case being registered against Deep Sidhu or Lakha Sadhana.” It is alleged that Deep Sidhu was among the group of farmers who entered the Red Fort in New Delhi and unfurled the pennant there, while violent clashes erupted in several areas of the national capital.
Hundreds of farmers riding their tractors, motorcycles and cars entered the premises of Red Fort on Tuesday afternoon with the national flag, a pennant and farmer union flags in their hands.
As many as 22 FIRs have been filed by the Delhi Police so far in connection with the violence witnessed during the farmers’ tractor rally on Republic Day, officials said on Wednesday.
The FIRs were registered under sections dealing with rioting, damage to public property, and assault on public servants with deadly weapons.
Another senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh blamed the Modi government for the violence. He said, “More than 15 persons have been handed over by farmers to the police who started the violence, and they were found possessing government identity cards, you can now understand who is in the government. This was an act of concerted conspiracy to malign a peaceful movement.”
Singh questioned why the police placed barricades despite fixing the routes.
The Congress has been pressing for the withdrawal of the farm laws and had hit out at the Modi government for the “collision” with the people over the contentious farm laws and demanded their immediate repeal.
Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala in a statement said there is no place for violence in a democracy and it is good that the agitating farmers have distanced themselves from those who have indulged in hooliganism.
