Farmers camp outside govt offices in Haryana's Karnal after talks fail, ban on mobile internet services extended

Karnal: Hundreds of protesting farmers are camping outside the gates of the district headquarters in Karnal after talks with Haryana's BJP-led government over a police lathi-charge last month failed.

The gherao began in the evening on Tuesday, several hours after farmers from Haryana and neighbouring states reached Karnal's New Anaj Mandi for a mahapanchayat, riding tractors and motorcycles.

Marching on foot from the mahapanchayat venue to the mini-secretariat five kilometres away, farmers faced a water cannon as they neared the complex. 
They jumped some barricades, but there was no other serious confrontation with police along the way.

The protesters are demanding action over a police lathi-charge in Karnal on August 28.

Farmer unions had warned that they will gherao the mini-secretariat if the administration did not meet their demands, centring around IAS officer Ayush Sinha who was later transferred out as part of a larger bureaucratic shuffle.

The officer had been caught on tape allegedly telling policemen to "break heads" if the protesters crossed the line.

Protest leaders Gurnam Singh Chaduni, Rakesh Tikait and Yogendra Yadav were at the gherao site. Chaduni, who heads the Haryana Bhartiya Kisan Union, said the sit-in will continue till their demands are met.

Late in the evening, Karnal Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said the administration had invited the farm leaders for another round of talks.

"We are in regular touch with them and we are hopeful of resolving the issue,’’ he said.

The Home Department late in the evening extended the suspension of mobile internet services in Karnal until Wednesday midnight (till 23:59 hrs) as the situation was "still volatile".

Earlier, these services were suspended in Karnal and the four adjoining districts of Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind and Panipat until Tuesday midnight.

"Further intensification of protest is expected which may adversely affect the public safety and law and order situation in Karnal district," said the order, extending the suspension. It did not mention the rest four districts.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC banning gathering of people were imposed in Karnal district. In Delhi, Congress said Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar should resign if he cannot talk with the protesting farmers.

Party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should shed his ''ego and arrogance'' and withdraw the three ''black laws" over which farmers have been protesting for months.

Earlier, as the Karnal mahapanchayat began in the morning, the local administration invited a delegation of farm leaders for talks. Three hours later, they announced that the administration had not agreed to the demands -- and then thousands of farmers headed on foot towards the secretariat.

Farm leaders told them not to get into any confrontation with the police. They were asked to squat on the road wherever they were stopped. BKU leader Rakesh Tikait said the state government is not listening to the farmers. “The Khattar government should agree to our demands or else arrest us. We are ready to fill Haryana's jails.’’

About 10 protesters were hurt in the clash with police in Karnal on August 28, as they tried to march towards the venue of a BJP meeting. Their leaders also claimed that a farmer died later, an allegation rejected by the administration.

Balbir Singh Rajewal, Joginder Singh Ugrahan and Darshan Pal were among the senior SKM leaders who reached Karnal for the rally, held two days after a huge mahapanchayat in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar.