Farmers hold tractor march, say it's 'rehearsal' for January 26

A day ahead of the next round of talks with the Union government thousands of farmers protesting on the Delhi borders organised a tractor march on Thursday amid tight security describing the event as a rehearsal for a similar roadshow proposed on January 26 to oppose the three new central farm lawsThe march comprising both men and women sitting on hundreds of tractors was flagged off from the Singhu and Tikri entry points on the DelhiHaryana borders and Ghazipur on the DelhiUttar Pradesh border at 11 amPolice was deployed on the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana borders with Delhi to accompany the farmers during the tractor marchThe sloganeering farmers drove their tractors towards Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways while demanding a repeal of the three farm laws and warned to intensify their protest if the government did not agree to their remaining demandsA few farmers even performed stunts and danced to songs played on the music systems installed on their tractors on the Eastern Peripheral Highway where they sat to eat langar in the afternoonThe tractors in the convoy sported the tricolour and farmer union flags apart from banners proclaiming their opposition to the farm laws even as policemen and bystanders looked on with curiosityAfter the meeting on the peripheral highway the farmers returned to the protest spots on the Delhi borders from where they had started in the morningSpeaking to the media Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta Ugrahan chief Joginder Singh Ugrahan said that over 3500 tractortrolleys were driven during the marchLater in the day the farmers converged on the highway and discussed their future strategyThe government should listen to the farmers We are just demanding the repeal of the contentious farm laws Bharatiya Kisan Union spokesperson Rakesh Tikait told IANSThe tractor march was organised by Sanyukt Kisan Morcha an umbrella of 40 farmer unions to demand the repeal of the three new farm laws and procurement of crops at Minimum Support PriceThe march was scheduled for Wednesday but was cancelled due to inclement weatherIn view of the tractor march authorities had ordered the diversion of traffic at several points on the Eastern Peripheral ExpresswayThe tractor march passed through the Eastern Peripheral Road and returned through the Expressway a police officer saidThe seventh round of talks between the Centre and farm leaders on their remaining demands ended in a stalemate on Monday Both sides will now meet here again on January 8This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever