New Delhi: Delhi Police on Monday detained former Aam Aadmi Party leader Yogendra Yadav along with farmers who were protesting against the Land Bill at Jantar Mantar on Monday. The farmers had landed up with tractors to protest at the spot when police prevented them from marching any further.
Yadav was detained when he had reportedly rushed to the spot to support the protesting farmers. "We were protesting peacefully and suddenly police came and dispersed farmers and arrested us. This is illegal arrest. We have not been told what is our crime and why we have been arrested. Can't we protest in a democratic country. Is it crime to keep plough on shoulders?" asked Yadav.
A 'tractor march' for the cause of farmers' rights has been organised by the Swaraj Abhiyan group led by AAP rebels Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan and will go on till Independence Day. The permission for the protest was given only till August 10.
Scores of farmers from across the country had planned to place an installation on Monday in front of the Prime Minister's residence 7 Race Course Road as a symbol of protest against the Delhi Race Course, which they want to be converted into a farmers' memorial.
Yadav and the farmers are being held at the Parliament Street Police Station. Former AAP Member Prashant Bhushan was also at the police station condemning the arrest. "First police stopped farmer's widow to go to 7 Race Course Road to do symbolic protest. Now farmers were dispersed from Jantar Mantar at midnight who were protesting peacefully. Yogender Yadav has been illegally detained," Bhushan said.
The scene got ugly at the Parliament Street Police Station. After Yogendra Yadav was detained, his colleague Prashant Bhushan got into a verbal altercation with the police.
Yadav had claimed that Delhi Police did not let around 200 tractors from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh enter the national capital as they were stopped at Delhi-Gurgaon Kapashera border despite having the requisite permission.
Meanwhile, Pankaj Pushkar, AAP's Timarpur MLA said, "If police do not allow us to move with this 'plough' towards the race course, we'll continue our protest till the Prime Minister's address to the nation on August 15 and will hold this symbol of farmer's revolution continuously."
Earlier, the march -- part of the 'Jai Kisan Andolan' launched to protest against "anti-farmer" steps such as the Land Acquisition Bill -- made its way through various parts of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh after being flagged off at Sangrur on August 1.
The tractor march was supposed to culminate at Race Course
"In the last five years, 3 lakh farmers have committed suicide due to faulty policies on MSP and costs. Chemical fertiliser companies are provided subsidy. If same subsidy is given for organic farming, no 'cancer express' from Punjab would have been there.
"Plenty of land is available with railways and defence which, after acquisition, is being used for illegal purposes... big corporate houses are provided loan waiver worth crores but a farmer with a loan of less than Rs 10,000 is prosecuted, his belongings auctioned.
"Instead of providing subsidy to companies, traditional seed banks should be created," said Bhushan.
(With additional information from PTI)
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