Amid tight security, thousands of Indian farmers riding tractors on Thursday started their tractor-march from protest sites near Delhi border points against three contentious farm sector reform laws passed by parliament last year, and vowed to intensify their agitation if their demand for repeal of the legislations was not met.
Farmers participated in the march with over 3,500 tractors and trolleys, according to Indian media quoting Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) chief Joginder Singh Ugrahan as saying.
Farmers set off the march led by BKU leader Rakesh Tikait at around 11am local time amid heavy deployment of Delhi and Haryana police.
"In the coming days, we will intensify our agitation against the three farm laws. Around 2,500 tractors from Haryana participated in today's march. We want to warn that if the government doesn't accept our demands, farmers' protest will be intensified further," Abhimanyu Kohar, a senior member of Samkyukt Kisan Morcha said.
According to the protesting farm unions, this is just "rehearsal" for their proposed January 26 tractor parade that will be move into the national capital from different parts of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
Farmers started the tractor march around 11 am and moved towards Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway amid heavy deployment of Delhi Police and Haryana Police personnel.
The tractor march, led by senior BKU leader Rakesh Tikait, moved towards Palwal.
The seventh round of talks between protesting unions and three central ministers ended inconclusively on Monday as farmer groups stuck to their demand for the repeal of three laws, while the government listed out various benefits of the new acts for the growth of the country's agriculture sector.