New Delhi: Defying a ban, thousands of people attended a mahapanchayat at Shamli in western Uttar Pradesh in solidarity with the farmers who have been protesting for over two months against the three agricultural laws at the borders of Delhi. Security, meanwhile, has been beefed up all across the Delhi-NCR area in the wake of the farmers’ unions calling a nationwide “Chakka Jam” (blockading of roads) protest on Saturday.
Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait, who has become the face of the anti-farm law protests, said the “chakka jam” will not take place in Delhi, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, but will be done in other parts of NCR and the rest of the country, including the southern states.
“Dilli mein hum nahi kar rahe, wahan to raja ne khud qile-bandi kar li hai humare jaam karne ki zaroorat hi nahi hai (We are not going to do anything in Delhi, the king there has already fortified it, there is no need for us to do a blockade now),” he said, in a…