Protesting farmers reach Kisan Ghat, claim victory

Led by Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Naresh Tikait, over 200 tractors carrying thousands of farmers reached Kisan Ghat here. Tikait declared it as the "victory of farmers" and said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has failed in its "motives".

"The farmers remained unfazed despite all the hardships. We have been marching for 12 days now, farmers are tired as well. We will continue to demand our rights to the government but for now we are ending the march," Tikait told IANS at Kisan Ghat.

He said the farmers will be returning early morning on Wednesday.

Amid massive deployment of security personnel at Uttar Pradesh-Delhi border, the farmers reinforced their march to the national capital after obtaining necessary permissions from the administration.

Shouting anti-BJP slogans, the farmers, with blisters on feet, reached Kisan Ghat at around 2 a.m. on Wednesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, as thousands of farmers tried to enter Delhi, police stopped them on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, triggering violence that left some of them injured.

The farmers have a charter of 15 demands including loan waiver and fair prices for crops, which they want implemented without delay.

Their demands include complete loan waiver, revoking ban on 10-year-old tractors in the National Capital Region (NCR), reduction in electricity tariff, implementation of the recommendations of the M.S. Swaminathan Commission on remunerative prices and payment of sugarcane arrears among others. 

The protesters started their 10-day march from Haridwar in Uttarakhand led by the BKU and on Tuesday, they reached the Uttar Pradesh-Delhi border. There was heavy deployment of security forces at the border.