Uttar Pradesh: Intensifying their protest against contentious three-farm bills that Parliament passed last year, Samyukta Kisan Morcha, a joint front of 13 farmers’ unions, have organised a mahapanchayat in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar on Sunday.
This mahapanchayat has been organised by farmers at the Government Inter College ground in Muzaffarnagar, ahead of the crucial UP assembly polls next year.
Farmers belonging to over 300 organizations from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka among others, have gathered for the event to mark their protest against BJP-led union government, said Bharatiya Kisan Union media in-charge Dharmendra Malik.
He said that over 5000 langars including some mobile stalls have been set up by supporters near the protest site.
The farmers including women carrying flags of different unions arrived at the protest site in buses, cars and tractors.
The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhry said that he had requested the Muzaffarnagar district for
sprinkling of flowers from a helicopter on the farmers but authorities denied their request.
City magistrate Abhishek Singh said that this cannot be allowed due to security reasons.
A heavy security forces have been deployed at the protest venue and at the residences of Union minister Sanjiv Balyan as well as BJP MLA Umesh Malik here, as a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, the Muzaffarnagar district authorities have directed all wine shops to keep their unit shut in view of the mahapanchayat.
The roads, flyovers in Muzaffarnagar jam-packed as thousands attend farmers’ mahapanchayat.