After the Uttar Pradesh government issued orders for removal of the protesting farmers camping at various Delhi borders, a standoff was built up between the Delhi police and protesting farmers at Ghazipur border on Thursday night. A major group of protesters have called a Mahapanchayat meeting in Muzaffarnagar to decide the future course of action on Friday.

Some parts of the Delhi border has been closed to traffic. The other two-key borders- Tikri and Singhu, the epicenters of farmers’ protest have also been placed under tight security.

On Thursday, the tension rose at Ghazipur border as Delhi police in anti-riot gear started arriving at the site to remove the protesting farmers, the Bharatiya Kisan Union’s Rakesh Tikait said they would not budge. Tikait then broke down on stage as he appealed to farmers not to leave the protest site and said the agitation would continue. He also declared that if needed he is ready to face bullets.

This is a conspiracy against farmers and if the three farm laws will not be repealed they will not go anywhere, said emotional Tikait adding that this is a betrayal of farmers. Amid continuous sloganeering of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan by protesters waving the tricolour, farmer leader Jagat Singh Rathi said, he can protest while standing up instead of the sit-in protest at the site. 

The Ghaziabad police officer said that the excess security force from the protest site has been withdrawn and only a minimal deployment of personnel remains there, since the tension was building at UP Gate due to excessive deployment of force last night.

As soon as the video of the emotional Tikait surfaced online, more farmers started to join the sit-in protest at Ghazipur border late at night. Several appeals have also been made by the leaders in Western UP urging others to join the protest today. The farmers in Haryana blocked the Chandigarh national Highway near Kandela Village of Jind district.

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Tikait told the reporters that the Supreme Court has justified the peaceful sit-in, there has been no violence on the Ghazipur border. Despite this, the government has adopted a repressive policy, it is the face of the Uttar Pradesh government, said Tikait. There has been no power at the site since Wednesday afternoon, and they have not got any water supply through tankers, added Tikait.

Meanwhile, the Ghazipur border had been sealed since the farmers started their protest on November 26. On Republic Day, the farmers had broken barricades and taken out their tractor rally. The farmers have allegedly carried out violence at the iconic Red Fort on Tuesday. More than 25 cases over the violence have been filed against the farmer union leaders, 19 people have been arrested by the Delhi police.

However, the farmers have said the violence on Republic Day was the result of a conspiracy to malign them. The government was trying to break their peaceful protest. Rakesh Tikait has demanded a judicial inquiry into the events at the Red Fort.

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Thousands of protesting farmers have been camping at Delhi’s borders for almost two months, demanding the rollback of the three farm laws enacted by the Centre. The farmers and the government have involved in several round of talks in an attempt to end the deadlock, but they were inconclusive. The farmers have been adamant on their demands to repeal the three laws, while government has offered to postpone the enactment of laws to one and half years.