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Farmers who staged a sit-in at the Punjab-Haryana border today suspended their foot march to Delhi till Tuesday even after farmer union leaders accused the Center of being confused over how to take the protesters to the national capital.

The decision not to send ‘jatha’ (group) of farmers till Tuesday was taken at a meeting of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha and Samyukt Kisan Morcha (non-political) at Shambhu border near here. Another meeting was scheduled for tomorrow to decide the future course of action, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said.

A ‘jatha’ of 101 farmers had tried to move towards Delhi on foot on December 6 and 8, but both attempts were foiled by Haryana police and paramilitary personnel. In the two attempts, more than 30 farmers were injured when security personnel threw tear gas canisters at the protesters. Pandher went to the Center and alleged that ministers Manohar Lal Khattar and Ravneet Singh Bittu had made conflicting statements on how farmers should reach Delhi. “While Bittu says farmers should walk to Delhi where ‘they will be welcomed with garlands’, former Haryana Chief Minister Khattar asks us to proceed in vehicles. The government itself is in disarray,” he said.

Pandher claimed that the ministers behaved like the late Paul Joseph Goebbels (chief propagandist of the Nazi Party). “They are using various strategies to spread false propaganda and divert public attention from ‘Kisan Andolan 2.0’,” he said.

Farmer leaders Guramneet Singh Mangat and Tejvir Singh also accused Haryana police of deliberately targeting farmer union leaders. “While Surjit Singh Phool was targeted on December 6, Dilbagh Singh was injured on December 8. Sarwan Pandher faced heavy teargas shelling when he walked to the border fence to ask the protesters to withdraw on Sunday,” Mangat alleged. The farmer leaders said they even raised the issue of ‘selective targeting’ during their meeting with Haryana police.

Meanwhile, farmer leaders today visited Rajpura and Patiala hospitals to check the welfare of the injured protesters. They also visited Khanauri where farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal has been on an indefinite fast for the past fortnight.

Union leader Abhimanyu Kohar said the “Centre would be responsible” if anything happened to Dallewal. Pandher said the farmers would oppose any attempt by the police or local administration to forcibly hospitalize Dallewal.

The protesters have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 after their march towards Delhi was stopped by the security forces. The farmers are demanding a legal guarantee for minimum support price of crops, debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm workers, no increase in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases (against farmers) and ‘justice’ for the victims of the disaster. 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.