COIMBATORE : Coimbatore city police have assured a delegation of Punjab farmers that a nodal officer would be appointed to help them visit the memorials of freedom fighters in the state. The assurance comes a day after police detained members of Kisan Majdoor Morcha following intelligence alert that were planning to burn effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, to condemn the death of a farmer Shubkaran Singh during their Dilli Chalo march in February.
They were released after the Punjab government intervened.
On Monday, a group of farmers including Sarwan Singh Pandher and Manjeet Singh Rai, met the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Coimbatore North) R Stalin and registered their unhappiness over the incidents. Sources said the officer regretted it and told them a nodal officer will be appointed to support their Asthi Kalash Yatra in Tamil Nadu.
"On Sunday when we wanted to hold the protest, city police detained us claiming the city is sensitive as the BJP’s state president Annamalai is contesting from here. The voice of democracy was scuttled by police at the behest of Annamalai. Our democratic rights of protesting against the PM and Haryana CM were attacked. We were released only after Punjab government officials spoke with Tamil Nadu counterparts,” Pandher told TNIE.
The farmers later travelled to Tiruppur taking the ashes of the dead farmer as part of their tour.