Farmers protest: What happened at Shambhu border

India Today

The Punjab government has taken action against protesting farmers at the Punjab-Haryana border. Bulldozers demolished tents and barricades were removed. The AAP government claims the farmers should protest in Delhi, not Punjab.

Transcript

00:00Shifting focus now, high drama at the Punjab-Haryana borders just a day after the centre's talks

00:06with farmers over MSP guarantee went inconclusive.

00:10The Punjab government cracked down on protesting farmers at the Shambhu and the Khanauri borders

00:15while border security has been ramped up.

00:18Protesting farmers were detained, farmers' tents demolished by bulldozers and barricades

00:23at the Punjab-Haryana border removed by the Haryana police.

00:27At least 700 farmers were detained in late-night action at the border.

00:30Over 3,000 Punjab police personnel were deployed to remove the farmers and their tents.

00:36The AAP government claims the farmers were removed to clear Punjab's roads and to bring

00:40employment to Punjab, claiming since the farmers are fighting against the centre, they should

00:44protest in Delhi, not in Punjab.

00:47Former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh has in fact slammed the centre and the Aam Aadmi

00:53Party both in Punjab, claiming that the farmers were betrayed after their talks with the centre

00:59and that they were fraudulently arrested.

01:02We're getting in details of the farmers' protests in Punjab and the roads have now been cleared.

01:09Chief Minister of Punjab says that the farmers are protesting against the centre, so they

01:13should be protesting in Delhi and not in Punjab.

01:16A series of reactions coming in.

01:18Let's take a listen.

01:19The farmers have been arrested.

01:22Yes, ma'am, yesterday there was a meeting with the centre and after the meeting, the

01:31farmers have been arrested.

01:32The Punjab government has taken action.

01:34The Punjab government and the Modi government have met.

01:36We are going to the court, but God should not do this.

01:42I am the son of a farmer.

01:46I am a farmer.

01:47It is their duty to give us time.

01:51How can they arrest us like this?

01:54They are harming our livelihoods.

01:58Who will take care of us?

02:00Will the government do it?

02:01They have beaten us so badly.

02:03They broke our tractor.

02:05They have harassed us a lot.

02:07This is not good for the government.

02:10They have beaten us so badly.

02:12Next time, no one will vote for them in Punjab.

02:16It was their plan.

02:17This was their plan.

02:20They wanted to mislead us.

02:22Both of them said that today, the entire Punjab and other areas of the state will go

02:38against the deputy commissioner and his atrocities.

02:43The women farmers who are protesting in front of the deputy commissioners,

02:49they are coming from both our forums.

02:52If the government continues to run the Dhaman Chakar like this,

03:00then our movement, our wave, whatever it is,

03:06our movement, whatever it is,

03:09it will be accelerated.

03:11The farmers' protest that was going on at the Shambhu border for a long time,

03:15today, in the presence of the duty magistrates,

03:18it has been cleared by the police.

03:20After giving proper warning, it was given to them,

03:22and after that, all this has been cleared.

03:24Some people had given their willingness that we want to go home,

03:28so they were sent home in buses.

03:30And in addition, the structures and vehicles here are being moved.

03:42All action here in Shambhu border.

03:44The farmers may have been removed from here,

03:46but what is on is the process of removing these concrete barricades.

03:52And remember, what you hear behind me is that particular drilling machine,

03:56and remember the JVC and the others have been brought in

03:59to lift those heavy concrete slabs.

04:03They were put in place to ensure that the farmers in tractors and trolleys

04:08could not march towards Delhi.

04:10From 99 days onwards, what we see is the farmers have been evicted in a surprise move,

04:16and this is where it seems that they were already in talks with the government,

04:21and that's the day that the government thought that they could actually corner the leaders,

04:28and that is how a swift action was taken,

04:31first picking up and detaining the top leaders,

04:34and then thereafter action both at Shambhu and Kanori.

04:37Now hundreds of farmers have been detained,

04:39but is this going to go down well?

04:41Because many indicate that Punjab was suffering,

04:44especially as far as economics is concerned.

04:47Thousands of crows down the drain.

04:49It's also because the key arterial road, the Shambhu border, itself was blocked.

04:54Now the attempt really is to open up the side roads,

04:59because the flyover has the main strength of trolleys and tractors.

05:05But what is really going to happen now is also about how politics is heating up in Punjab.

05:11Just the BJP, who was initially blamed for not allowing farmers to enter Delhi,

05:17are the ones who are now training guns at the Aam Aadmi Party.

05:21At the Shambhu border, where the Punjab Police is taking action against the farmers,

05:25we can see how bulldozers are taking action,

05:28and now some farmers are taking back tractor trolleys themselves.

05:33You can see that the JCP machines are constantly running.

05:37The temporary structures, the temporary arrangements that the farmers had made to live here,

05:43are all being demolished.

05:45And the trolleys that are installed,

05:47the farmers are voluntarily bringing back the tractors,

05:50and have started taking their trolleys back.

05:53And you can see in these pictures,

05:55how this big action is taking place at the Shambhu border,

06:00and this is a bulldozer action,

06:02This is the Amritsar-Delhi highway, where we are standing.

06:04It had been blocked by the farmers for the past year,

06:07and today the farmers have been detained.

06:09And now, you can see how the bulldozers are demolishing their structures,

06:16so that this highway can be cleared,

06:19and the commuters can travel on this highway again.

06:23And this is a big action by the Punjab government and the Punjab Police,

06:28which is taking place against the farmers.

06:30These temporary structures, where the farmers had been living for the past year,

06:34are now being demolished.

06:36The trolleys are being cleared from here,

06:38so that the Amritsar-Delhi highway can be cleared.

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