Several farmer leaders announced a day-long fast on Monday and that farmers will halt toll collection on highways in Haryana from December 25 to 27.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, meanwhile, is likely to meet farmers’ unions spearheading the ongoing agitation in a day or two, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday.
Modi on Sunday made a surprise visit to Gurdwara Rakabganj in Delhi and paid tributes to Guru Tegh Bahadur. He offered prayers during his visit to the gurdwara for which no police bandobast or traffic barriers were put in place to restrict the movement of the common man. After his surprise visit to the gurdwara, PM took to Twitter and to cajole the protesters said that he felt “blessed” and “deeply inspired” by the kindness of Guru Tegh Bahadur. The farmers had appealed to people in the country to bang utensils to drown out Modi’s monthly radio programme Mann ki baat on December 27. Surprisingly, it was found out that the news which stated about Modi meeting a group of farmers, in the context of protests, was manipulated. An investigation by a hindi website-Junputh found out that the meeting of the PM was actually with a group of BJP workers (in Kutch), led by BJP General Secretary (Kutch) Rajobhai Sardar regarding the construction of Lakhpat Gurudwara in Kutch.
The protesting farmers performed ‘ardas’ (prayer) in several villages in the two states in the memory of their departed brethren.
At some places in Punjab, farmers owing allegiance to the BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) also took out protest marches against the BJP-led government at the Centre for not acceding to their demand for the repeal of the three farm laws.