Farmers protest live updates: Maharashtra govt to probe celebrity tweets on farmers protest

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said the Central Government's conspiracy against farmers has strengthened their protest against the newly-enacted farm laws.

Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra said Rahul Gandhi will address farmer rallies at Pilibanga in Hanumangarh at 11 pm and Sriganganagar's Padampur at 2 pm on February 12.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior Union ministers like Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari should hold talks with farmers' unions to resolve the deadlock over ongoing protest against the three new agriculture laws. He said differences regarding the implementation of agriculture reforms can be resolved through deliberations.

Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur borders remain closed for traffic on Sunday as farmers continue to protest against the central agricultural laws.

Asserting that the agitation against the Centre's farm laws is a people's movement that will not fail, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said there will be no "ghar wapsi" till protesting farmers' demands are met

"The farmer, Karamveer Singh, hailed from a village in Jind. He was found hanging from a tree in a park, which is around two kilometres away from the Tikri border," Bahadurgarh City police station SHO Vijay Kumar said.

A farmer from Jind in Haryana who was supporting the agitation against the Centre's farm laws allegedly hanged himself from a tree merely two kilometres from the Tikri border protest site on Sunday, police said. The 52-year-old farmer left a suicide note, which is being verified, they said.

While the farmers’ unions had announced that they would preclude Delhi from their three-hour chakka jam, or road blockade, programme on Saturday, the city remained on high alert amid heavy security arrangements to prevent any attempt at lawlessness of the sort that marked the January 26 tractor rally. The day passed without incident in the capital.

Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait on Saturday called on peasants across the country to join the “tractor revolution” as part of the ongoing protests at Delhi's borders against the new agri laws introduced by the Centre.

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Saturday said farmers protesting against the three central laws on Delhi’s borders since November “are not going anywhere” and would intensify their agitation in the coming days with a ‘tractor kranti’ — a mega rally that would not be restricted to Delhi but held nationwide.

In response to legal notices being issued to people protesting against the three farm laws, the Bharatiya Kisan Union has decided to call farmers with pictures of their relatives serving in defence and police forces at the Ghazipur border. “We will see if the authorities on instructions of the government issue legal notices to family members of those serving in defence forces and police. A large section of farmers has their children serving in these forces,” a senior BKU leader said.