We stand vindicated, say farm unions as cops begin removing barricades from farmers' protest sites

New Delhi: With the Delhi Police beginning to remove barricades at two farmer protest sites — Tikri and Ghazipur — farm union leaders on Friday said the move vindicates their stand that they never blocked roads at the city border points.Farmer leaders said any decision to entirely clear both the carriageways at the protest sites will be taken by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of over 40 farmer unions protesting against the Centre's farm laws.They, however, said way will be made for traffic to move in the coming days.Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) office-bearers said police and not farmers had blocked roads, adding that they are being "reopened on the directions of the Supreme Court".In light of the removal of barricades at Ghazipur border protest site, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait said, the future course of the ongoing farmers' protest would be decided by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, which is leading the movement against the three farm laws.Senior farmer leader and SKM member Darshan Pal said false allegations were being levelled against farmers that they have blocked roads, which have been rejected by us since day one.Pal said at Singhu border, farmers have occupied the portion of road which is already closed for traffic due to construction of a flyover.Now, the exercise of removal of barricades by the police clearly proves our point that it was the police that have blocked roads and not the farmers. We never created any problem. Any bottleneck from our side will also be cleared for traffic movement, Pal told Press Trust of India.Any decision to entirely clear both carriageways of roads or march towards Delhi will be taken by the SKM, he added.So far, there is no call to go to Delhi. Any future course of action will be decided in a meeting of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, Pal said.The Delhi Police on Thursday evening started removing the barricades and concertina wires it had put in place at the anti-farm laws protest site at Tikri Border on Delhi-Rohtak highway. Similar action was initiated at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border on Friday morning. Farmer leader and a representative of Rastriya Kisan Majdoor Sabha, Abhimanyu Kohar said the decision to remove barricades has vindicated the farmers' stand and will ease traffic movement at the borders.For the last 11 months, we have been saying that farmers never blocked roads as we are simply protesting against farm laws. Today we are proved right. It is good that traffic will now be able to move at borders, Kohar said.Another farmer leader at Tikri Border and a member of SKM, Sudesh Goyat accused the Delhi Police of obstructing vehicular movement.In February, protesting farmers at Tikri Border cleared the way for an ambulance but it had to return as the Delhi Police had blocked the road, she claimed.We are happy that roadblocks are being removed and now traffic will be able to move. It will also help in reviving economy here as petrol pumps, shops which are shut for 11 months due to road closure will now start functioning again, Goyat said.Farmer leaders also hoped that the Centre would invite farmers for a dialogue to break the logjam over the farm laws.BKU spokesperson Saurabh Upadhyay said farmers want to go to Delhi but the SKM will take the final call.If the government wants the logjam to end, it should talk to the farmers now and we are ready for it. But if it wants the farmers' movement to continue, we are determined to prolong it as it has already been 11 months since the protests began, Upadhyay told Press Trust of India.Reacting to the development, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the three "anti-agriculture" farm laws would also be withdrawn soon."Only artificial barricades have been removed so far, soon the three anti-agriculture laws will also be withdrawn. Hail Annadata Satyagraha," he said in a tweet in Hindi, using the hashtag 'FarmersProtest'.Deputy Commissioner of Police (east) Priyanka Kashyap said Friday, "The process of removing barricades on NH-9 has been started. The temporarily barricading is being removed to ease out vehicular movement. However, the National Highway 24 was already opened for the traffic."The opening of the road stretch would help thousands of commuters in Ghaziabad, Delhi, Noida as well as those travelling between the national capital and interiors of Uttar Pradesh to Meerut and beyond.The removal of barricades comes after the 21 October Supreme Court direction that called for unblocking of roads which have remained out of bounds for commuters due to the protests at Delhi's border points of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur.While the protesting farmers have been claiming that the three laws enacted last year are against their interest, the Centre has been saying these legislations are pro-farmer.Thousands of farmers have been camping at the three borders points — Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur — protesting the Centre's three farm laws since 26 November 2020.The Supreme Court on 21 October had said farmers protesting at Delhi borders against the three farms laws have the right to agitate but they cannot block roads indefinitely.