Farmers vow to block Delhi-Jaipur highway, to go on hunger strike from Dec 14

New Delhi : To intensify their protest against the new Farm bill, thousands of farmers will take out a tractor rally on Sunday to block Delhi-Jaipur highway. The protesters will also hold hunger strike from 8 am to 5 pm, they said.

Major security forces have been deployed at the border areas to stop farmers from blocking the national highways.

Defending the centre's reforms again, PM Modi this morning said: "We've taking all these initiatives to increase the farmers' income and make them more prosperous. Today, farmers of India can sell their produce both at the mandis, as well as outside."

More than 1,000 policemen were posted on Gurgaon's border with Delhi and 3,500 policemen in Faridabad to block the movement of protesters after they said they will occupy Delhi-Jaipur highway. 

According to a news agency AFP, farmers were reported of occupying some of the toll plazas and allowing vehicles to pass through them without paying any fees.

PM Modi assured farmers on Saturday that the reforms in the agrarian sector were aimed at helping them. "Reforms will help draw investment in agriculture and benefit farmers," he said at the annual meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, farmers are adamant on their demand and said that they want nothing less than the new law getting scrapped.

On Friday, protesters dismissed claims that their agitation were influenced by "ultra-left". "We reject this claim of the government. No one can influence us. This is the government's propaganda to defame us. All the decisions are taken by the Samyukt Kisan Union," Raminder Singh Patiyal, president of one of the 32 demonstrating groups Kirti Kisan Sangathan, said.

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