New Delhi:
A day after farmers’ tractor rally turned violent in Delhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday took stock of the security situation and measures taken to ensure peace in the city, officials said.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and senior officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Delhi Police attended the meeting.
The home minister reviewed the law and order situation in Delhi, which witnessed violence during the farmers’ tractor rally on Tuesday, a Home Ministry official said.
Shah was also briefed by the officials about the steps taken to ensure peace in the national capital, the official said.
There is a possibility of police taking action against farmers leaders, who signed an agreement with the police on the carrying out peaceful tractor rally through designated routes but failed to keep the promise, another official said.
The central government has already deployed around 4,500 paramilitary troops to assist the Delhi Police in maintaining law and order.
After the violence, the MHA on Tuesday had ordered temporary suspension of Internet for 12 hours in parts of Delhi.
Rapid Action Force personnel have also been repositioned in the national capital and vigil has been intensified in view of the evolving situation.
Tens of thousands of farmers broke barriers to storm the national capital on Tuesday, their tractor parade to highlight their demands dissolving into unprecedented scenes of anarchy as they fought with police, overturned vehicles and delivered a national insult hoisting a religious flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort, a privilege reserved for India’s tricolour.
From Rajpath to Red Fort, the day unfolded in scenes of contrasts. One that Indians have seen for seven decades and the other that seared itself into collective memory with its imagery of protesters demanding a repeal of the three farm laws storming the Mughal era monument, the centrepiece of India’s Independence Day celebrations.
Clashes broke out in multiple places, leading to violence in well-known landmarks of Delhi and its suburbs, amid waves of violence that ebbed and flowed through the day. While there were no exact estimates of how many farmers were hurt, Delhi Police officials said 86 of their men were injured through the day. Of these, 41 were injured at the Red Fort.
A protester died after his tractor overturned near ITO, one of the major flashpoints of trouble.
