Kisan rally: Agitating farmers call off protest after midnight march in Delhi

The Dehli-Uttar Pradesh border, where the police and farmers had clashed on Tuesday, was opened by police at midnight, allowing the peasants to enter the national capital.

The farmers had started to return to their houses since early morning.

Nearly 50,000 farmers, led by Bhartiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait, marched from Haridwar to New Delhi with the demands which include loans waivers, clearance of pending sugarcane payments and raising the minimum support prices.   

Tikait told media they are calling off the protest for now but will continue to press for their demands.

Police-farmers clash at Delhi-UP border on Tuesday (Image: Screen grab from ABP News)

Meanwhile, all schools, as earlier was announced, will remain closed in Ghaziabad on Wednesday.

According to media reports, the police used water cannons and batons to disperse the farmers.

The farmers are also demanding free electricity for running tubewells, Hindustan Times reported.

All the prohibitory orders have been lifted by police across Delhi.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government, saying even the peasants cannot express their anguish in the country now.

"On International Day of Non-Violence, the BJP's two-year Gandhi Jayanti celebrations began with the brutal beating of farmers peacefully coming to Delhi. Now, even the farmers cannot express the grievances by coming to the capital," Rahul tweeted in Hindi. 

Reacting strongly to police's attempt to stop several thousands of farmers from entering the national capital, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said the peasants can't be denied an entry to the city, which is for all.

Following the incident, Kejriwal took to Twitter to say in Hindi, "दिल्ली सबकी है। किसानों को दिल्ली में आने से नहीं रोका जा सकता। किसानों की माँगे जायज़ हैं। उनकी माँगें मानी जायें। (Delhi is for all. Can't stop farmers from entering Delhi. The farmers' demands are justifiable. Their demands must be fulfilled."