Farmers announce four-hour nationwide Rail Roko on February 18 to Intensify their agitation against the three new agricultural laws

 Intensifying their agitation against the three new agricultural laws farmers on Wednesday announced a four-hour nationwide 'rail roko' (rail blockade) from 12-4 pm on February 18.

The announcement comes hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech in Lok Sabha in which he appealed to the protesting farmers to come to the table to resume talks.

After a meeting of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha in which all farmers leaders participated at the Singhu border, the president of Krantikari Kisan Union Punjab Dr Darshan Pal said four decisions have been taken tointensify the movement.

"It has been decided that on February 18, Rail Roko programmes will be held for four hours across the country from 12 to 4 PM. And from February 12, all road toll plazas in Rajasthan will be made toll-free on the pattern of Punjab and Haryana."

"It has also been decided that on February 14, candle march and mashaal (torch) march will be organised across the country in memory of the sacrifice of the martyred soldiers in the Pulwama attack, and on February 16, the farmers will celebrate the birth anniversary of Sir Chhoturam," said Pal.

Another farmer leader said, "The All India Kisan Sangarsh Coordination Committee will work out the details and coordinate for the success of the protest programmes."

Meanwhile, addressing the farmers at Singhu border, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait said that they were not expecting at any change in the government at the Centre but a solution to their problems. Tikait further said many of their leaders will tour different parts of the country to spread the movement.

"We do not aim to change the government at the Centre. The government should do its work. We want it to repeal the farm laws and ensure law on MSP," he said.

Tikait added that the agitation against the farm laws will stretch till the Centre addresses the farmers' issues.

Earlier this month, the farmer organisations had observed a three-hour road blockade to press their demand of scrapping the three laws.

The 'Delhi Chalo' farmers' protest at border points of New Delhi has entered the 77th day today. Thousands of farmers, especially from Punjab and Haryana, are staging a sit-in protest along Delhi borders. The protest started on November 26, 2020. The farmers are demanding a complete rollback of the new farm reform laws and a guarantee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system being retained.The Centre held several rounds of formal talks with the representatives of farmers to resolve the issue over the farm laws, but failed to achieve any concrete solution with the unions sticking to their main demand for the repeal of the legislations.

The protesters have been alleging the laws will weaken the MSP mechanism and end the mandi system. But the government says the new legislations offer more options to farmers to sell their crops, and will help raise their incomes.

The Supreme Court had earlier ordered a stay on theimplementation of these contentious laws and formed a committee to resolve this issue, hoping it will end the protest, but the farmers’ unions refused to present before the committee, according to some farm leaders the members of the committee are pro-government and earlier they were in support of these laws. The farm union leaders have also rejected Centre's proposal to suspend implementation of the laws for the 18 months. On January 26, the protest turned violent when some farmers deviated from a pre-decided route for their Republic Day tractor rally and clashed with police. Some protesters scaled the ramparts of the Red Fort. Several police personnel were injured in the ensuing clashes.