Hundreds of farmers lay siege around Jind village to prevent entry of deputy CM Dushyant Chautala

Hundreds of protesting farmers on Wednesday laid siege to Dhrauli Khera village of Uchana Assembly constituency in Jind to prevent the entry of Haryana Deputy Chief Minister, Dushyant Chautala, who was supposedly scheduled to arrive there to attend a wedding function.

The siege by farmers continued till late in the evening, with farmers spotted camping at the borders of Dhrauli Khera, waiting for Chautala who had not arrived till the filing of this report.

Earlier in the day, as news about the possible arrival of Dushyant Chautala to the village spread earlier, hundreds of farmers had arrived at the spot and started camping around the village since the morning. The protesters parked their tractor-trolleys and a road roller too on the roads leading to the village. They erected tents and squatted on teh roads waiting for teh deputy CM to arrive.

In the evening, they started cooking food for their dinner there. Jind BKU president, Azad Palwa said, “There are four roads leading to Dhrauli Khera and the farmers have blocked all of them. We won’t allow entry of Dushyant Chautala via any of these roads.”

The farmer leaders had announced a “social boycott” of BJP-JJP leaders over the issue of three farm laws which have since been withdrawn by the Central government. The farmer leaders claim they have not allowed entry of Dushyant Chautala to any of the villages of his constituency Uchana for any public function in the past year as part of their agitation. The agitation has not been withdrawn even after the Centre repealed the three contentious farm laws with farmers now demanding that the government accept their other demands — including legal guarantee of MSP of agricultural crops, withdrawal of cases lodged against them in connection with the ongoing agitation and compensation to the families of those farmers who died during the agitation.

Ramniwas, a farmer from Jind district’s village Karsindhu, said, “We will continue opposing the leaders of BJP-JJP till farmers from the borders of Delhi don’t return to the village after ending the agitation.” The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which is spearheading the ongoing agitation, will take a call regarding the next course of action on December 4.

Late on Wednesday evening, JJP Uchana constituency in-charge Jagdish Sihag told The Indian Express that the visit of Chautala to Dhrauli Khera village had been cancelled because of delay in the schedule. Sihag also said that Chautala held a meeting of JJP workers in Jind apart from visiting neighbouring Pillukhera to join a function held at the residence of local party leader.

BKU leader, Azad Palwa, on the other hand said the farmers were camping at the borders of Dhrauli Khera village till 10 pm and they would continue camping there for the entire night. “The agitator farmers don’t want to take a risk and believe Chautala may come to the village late at night too. Further, we have come to know about the presence of police forces which also indicates his possible movement towards the village,” added Palwa.

Farmers should return home now: Dushyant Chautala

Meanwhile, Dushyant Chautala urged the protesting farmers to return to their homes while stating that the three farm laws had been repealed by the Central government. The Deputy CM also said taht discussions have been held in connection with the withdrawal of non-heinous cases lodged during the farmers in the agitation. On the other hand, JJP leader and Dushyant’s younger brother Digvijay Chautala has demanded the withdrawal of cases lodged against the farmers with immediate effect.