After numerous trials and tribulations by  home minister and  other functionaries in the GOI to persuade the protesting farmers and make them come on the discussion table, the farmers through their 30 unions decided that they would not go to Burari. The home minister had sent Surjit Kumar Jyani, a former cabinet minister in the Shiromani Akali Dal- BJP government in Punjab to try and bring the farmers on talks, where there would be 8 members nominated by the GOI and 5 members from the farmers’ unions. The farmers’ leaders obviously refused to accept this arrangement of talks.

The farmers in protest holding up at the Delhi border regions and their leaders stated that Burari is like an open prison and that they would never go there. At a press conference held at Delhi’s Singhu border region, state president of the Bharat Kisan Union Krantikari, Surjeet Singh stated that after coming to know that Burari is not actually an open park but more like an open prison, they have decided to not go there.

The farmers who have already reached Delhi from Punjab, Haryana, MP and other states came to know that when the farmers from Uttarakhand came to Delhi, they were directed towards Burari and held there. The farmers are determined with their demand for a complete rollback of the three anti-farmer pro-corporate laws, fixing an enforceable MSP mechanism with a guarantee of a minimum price for crop produces and reversal of the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020 which takes away the subsidy received by farmers on their power bills.

A convoy of at least 10,000 women protesters making its way towards Delhi from 14 districts across Punjab has been led by a woman farmer herself. Harinder Bindu, from Bhatinda, has been a farmer for no fewer than 30 years. She has lived her entire life in Punjab with her son, brother, sister-in-law, and parents. A high school graduate who went to a local school in Bhatinda, Bindu had taken an interest in farming from an early age. This “attack” on farmers through the central laws, water cannons, and tear gas, she said, feels personal to her.

The farmers who have come prepared from the different states have decided that they would block five main entry points into the Delhi region and with a supply of rations for around 4- 6 months would be holding up till the time their demands are fulfilled. The farmers, especially from Haryana have castigated the Haryana CM for saying that the farmers in the protests are not from Haryana but exclusively from Punjab. This comment from the Haryana CM Khattar came in response to the Punjab CM’s criticism of using water cannons and tear gas shells on the farmers.  It has been clearly claimed by the farmers over videos circulated over social media that there are farmers from many states including from Haryana, falsifying the claim of CM Khattar. The farmers in an unison and in a spectacular move have not allowed the reporters from certain media houses which are termed over the social media space as Godi media to take interviews. This boycott of a certain section of media is unprecedented in the context of the farmers’ protest. The farmers who have come prepared are determined to hold rally at Jantar Mantar to make the GOI repeal the three central farm acts.