“On this 74th anniversary of the People of India having given to themselves the Constitution of India, we solemnly resolve to struggle to defend our right to a dignified life and livelihood as guaranteed by the Constitution and which is threatened today by the brazen and shameless pro-corporate farm policies of the BJP-controlled Union government,” said farmer organisation Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) in a statement.

“We pledge to resist corporate attempt to control and sell costly inputs, including electricity and machinery, to change the cropping pattern to suit their markets, to wind up farm subsidies and assured pricing and procurement of crops, to control food storage and thereby control food supply for profiteering, to take over food processing and food markets, to undermine PDS security for the poor, and to take over and commercialise farm land, forest and water resources,” it added.

SKM is an umbrella organisation of farmer unions across the country. It had urged farmers and associated unions to take out a tractor parade over several long-pending demands.

“There were around 300 tractors in our parade today, from Chilla border to Pari Chowk. The protest went on for around three hours. We raised our demands peacefully and this was our message to the government: This is just a rehearsal; actual show will take place in Delhi if the demands of the farmers are not accepted. This is everybody’s Republic Day and people celebrate it in their own way. So, we took out a tractor parade. The government should listen to the farmers in place of defaming them for raising their voice for their demands,” said Pawan Khatana, the Western UP Chief of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), who led the parade on behalf of SKM.

He further said that the farmers have resolved for a Bharat Bandh on February 16 and Kisan Mahapanchayat on March 14 in New Delhi. “We will not let our Tricolour fall. We will also not let the government benefit capitalists from agriculture. It is the farmers who have played the biggest role in the nation’s development. It is the son of the farmer who stands guard at the border to protect the country. Who is a bigger deshbhakt than us?” Khatana said.

Notably, the parade comes exactly three years after January 26, 2021, when thousands of farmers had allegedly clashed with the police in Delhi during a large rally during which many had reached the Red Fort.

“The parade was part of the second phase of the farmers’ struggle to force the Central government to implement the written assurance of December 9, 2021, and provide legal guarantee of MSP at C2+50% formula with guaranteed procurement for all crops to farmers, comprehensive loan waiver, stopping of privatisation of the power sector and pre-paid meters, reducing input costs, ensuring simple and universal crop insurance controlled by the government, etc.,” said SKM in a statement on Friday’s tractor parade.