Farmers from different states, mainly Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been staying put on the borders of Delhi since November 27, protesting against the new farm Bills

NEW DELHI — In a show of solidarity on the World Human Rights Day on Thursday, hundreds of farmers protesting at Delhi’s Tikri border held a demonstration demanding release of activists, left leaders, academicians and students who are in jail under anti-terror laws (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) in cases related to the February Delhi riots and the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence.

Visuals which have gone viral on social media show farmers holding placards depicting pictures of the incarcerated activists such as  Sharjeel Imam, Khalid Saifi, Umar Khalid, Asif Iqbal Tanha, etc. held in Delhi riots cases.

The demonstrators also displayed pictures of Varavara Rao, Hany Babu, Sudha Bharadwaj, Rona Wilson, Stan Swamy, Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira who are in jail in the Bhima Koregaon case.

“Release of these prisoners is also our demand,” Jhanda Singh Jethuke, senior vice-president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), told the media.

“Around two dozen activists have been booked under UAPA for Bhima Koregaon violence and forinstigating Delhi riots. The Modi government is pushing intellectuals and activities into jail,” he said.

Farmers from different states, mainly Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have staying put on the borders of Delhi since November 27, protesting against the new farm Bills enacted recently by the Modi Government allowing farmers to sell their produce to private players.

The farmers fear that the move will expose them to exploitation by capitalists and that the government-regulated market yards which ensure financial protection will be rendered useless and obsolete with time.

So far, there have been several rounds of talks between the government and farmer unions without any positive results with the Modi regime refusing to budge over farmers’ demand for reversing the Bills.