NEW DELHI: Farmers protesting against the new agriculture laws on Thursday came together to raise their voices against the recent price hike of fuel and cooking oil, demanding that the rates be halved with immediate effect.
The two-hour-long protest from 10 am to 12 noon, led by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, saw farmers in different parts of the country gather on the sides of national and state highways along with their vehicles, in an attempt to draw the government’s attention towards their plight following the fuel price hike.
“Today, farmers protested against the high fuel prices. We want them to be halved immediately. Protestors brought their motorcycles, cars, tractors and other vehicles and held sit-in protests,” Another farmer leader Avtar Singh Mehma said protests were held not just at the Delhi borders where the farmers’ protest against the three farm laws is underway, but across several state and national highways in the country.
“However, it was ensured that the protests did not block traffic on these roads. Housewives also came out in large numbers to participate in the agitation with empty gas cylinders,” Mehma said.
Farmers also observed ‘horn baja diwas’ during which they honked their vehicles for five minutes to draw the attention of the government, which, according to them, has not been listening to them despite their continued agitation for over seven months.