Farmer union leader Rakesh Tikait has exempted Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand from the three-hour nationwide chakka jam from Saturday noon, apprehensive of efforts to orchestrate violence and discredit the movement.

In the two states, farmers have been asked to organise protests at the district headquarters.

Tikait’s late-afternoon announcement that the road blockade had been called off just a few minutes after the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) had shared the modalities for the protest triggered speculation of a break-up. The SKM is the banner under which the protests are going on.

The reasons Tikait’s spokesperson Dharmendra Malik had initially cited were the farming cycle -– the sugarcane harvest season --- and other circumstances.

Later in the evening, Tikait himself clarified that the programme for these two states had been modified in view of clear “evidence” that some people would try to cause violence during the blockade. “We took the decision to call off the chakka jam in public interest.”

Instead, farmers have been advised to hold demonstrations at the district headquarters and distribute leaflets about the reasons for their struggle.

The SKM leadership, which was at first taken by surprise as it has become difficult for its members to stay in regular touch with each other because of the Internet ban at the protest sites, said it was unaware of any change and that the protest was on.

Late in the night, the SKM leadership clarified that there was an assessment from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand that agent provocateurs might break windscreens of vehicles during the chakka jam to discredit the farmers – similar to the attempt on Republic Day during the tractor rally.

Jagmohan Singh of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Dakaunda) told The Telegraph from Jind that speculation about a possible rift in the SKM was incorrect. He said he had spoken to Yudhvir Singh of the Tikait-led BKU half an hour earlier. Yudhvir Singh has been representing the Tikait BKU during discussions within the SKM.

“In any case, at the time of deciding to do a chakka jam on Saturday, we had decided that local units can work out their own programmes, depending upon objective conditions,” Jagmohan Singh said.

Detailing the programme, the SKM said in a statement that only national and state highways would be blocked from noon to 3pm across the country on Saturday. Emergency and essential services like ambulances and school buses will not be stopped.

Protesters have been urged not to enter into any conflict with government officials or ordinary citizens.

“There will be no chakka jam programme inside Delhi since all the protest sites are already in chakka jam mode. All roads for entering Delhi will remain open except where farmers’ protest sites are already located,” the SKM said.

“The chakka jam will conclude at 3pm with honking continuously for a minute to show unity among farmers,” the SKM said, urging all others to join the farming community in solidarity at 3pm for a minute.

Ex-bureaucrats

As many as 75 retired bureaucrats have endorsed a statement issued by Constitutional Conduct in support of the farmers.

“The approach of the Government of India (GoI) towards the farmers’ protest has been an adversarial and confrontationist one from the very beginning, treating the apolitical farmers like an irresponsible opposition to be derided, demonised and defeated. The repeated, albeit unsuccessful, attempts to polarise the agitation along regional, communal and other lines are also reprehensible. Such an approach can never lead to a solution,” the statement said.

Urging the government to take remedial measures, the former civil servants, who have retired from senior-most positions in the government, suggested that the cases against the farmers and others who have tweeted in their support, besides journalists, be withdrawn and the three laws repealed.

“If the GoI is indeed interested in an amicable solution, instead of proposing half-hearted steps such as putting the laws on hold for 18 months, it can withdraw the three laws and think of other possible solutions, given the basic constitutional position that the subject of agriculture is in the states’ list in the Constitution of India,” the statement said.