After Tractor Rally on Republic Day, Protesting Farmers to March Towards Parliament on Budget Day

"On February 1, we will march on foot towards Parliament in Delhi from different locations," said Darshan Pal of Krantikari Kisan Union.

New Delhi: Farmer unions protesting against the Centre’s three agricultural laws near Delhi on Monday said that they will march towards the Parliament on February 1, the day of the presentation of the Union Budget.

“Farmers will march towards Parliament from different locations on Budget day on February 1,” said farmer leader Darshan Pal.

On February 1, we will march on foot towards Parliament in Delhi from different locations: Darshan Pal, Krantikari Kisan Union

(File Photo) pic.twitter.com/sCbBRFxuON

— ANI (@ANI) January 25, 2021

Earlier in the day, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar said it was unfortunate that those in power did not care about protesting farmers. He addressed a rally in Mumbai organised to express solidarity with farmers protesting against the contentious farm laws near Delhi’s borders.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police and the farmers agreed on three routes for the Republic Day tractor rally. The details of the routes are not yet clear. The police had on Sunday said the tractors will be allowed in the city through certain designated entry and exit points, but only after the traditional military parade.

Enacted in September last year, the three farm laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.

However, the protesting farmers have expressed their apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of minimum support price and do away with the ‘mandi’ (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.