The government has stepped up efforts over the weekend to stop the farmers from approaching Delhi but the protesters are staying the course, undaunted by physical obstacles, verbal insinuations and the “conspiracy to project divisions in the movement”.

The latest label added to the growing list of aspersions on the protesting farmers is that of the “tukde tukde gang”, this time by Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Launching the BJP’s Kisan Chaupal Sammelan in Patna, Prasad said strong action would be taken against the “tukde tukde gang” for trying to take advantage of the farmers’ agitation against the three new farm laws.

Over the past couple of days, Prasad’s cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal has alleged that Left-wing extremists have hijacked the movement. Government supporters have also raised the Khalistani bogey, routinely assailing the farmers by citing the participation of some pro-Khalistani people in demonstrations held abroad in support of Indian farmers’ right to protest.

The farmers’ leaders have remained outwardly unfazed by the smear campaign, asserting they are only giving voice to the groundswell of opinion within the farming community.

Likewise, they have been staring the government down over its attempts to divide and rule, describing the various shows of support for the new farm laws, held under the government’s aegis, as a conspiracy to project differences within the movement.

Gurnam Singh Chaduni of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Haryana) was dismissive when asked about the BKU (Bhanu) ending its blockade of the Noida-Delhi link road via Chilla on Saturday evening.

“Bhanu Pratap has never been a member of our committee and he never joined the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (the banner under which all the farmers’ collectives are agitating). He never had a big role in the movement. It was a conspiracy to weaken our movement,” Gurnam said.

The BKU (Bhanu) had petitioned the Supreme Court last week against the new farm laws. After lifting its blockade on Saturday, its Uttar Pradesh unit began an indefinite hunger strike, demanding repeal of the three laws, at the Chilla border on Sunday but did not block the road.

Rakesh Tikait, who heads his own BKU faction in western Uttar Pradesh, said it was clear from the developments that Bhanu Pratap had sat at the border as part of the government’s agenda.

“Can a border be closed with 50 people? He was asked to sit there and when our movement was at its peak, he was told to end the siege. This was their agenda,” he said.

Jasbir Singh Virk, leader of the farmers from Uttarakhand, was equally dismissive about a meeting some farmers from the hill state had had with Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

“Two busloads of people were brought, of whom at least 90 had nothing to do with farming,” he said.

Shiv Kumar Sharma “Kakaji” of the Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh said: “No one has left the SKM (Sanyukta Kisan Morcha); we take decisions not by majority but unanimously.”

He said the government was trying to stop the farmers from proceeding towards Delhi but insisted that there was no question of giving up the struggle in the face of the obstacles being raised.

Farmers blocked certain stretches of the Delhi-Jaipur highway on Sunday. Some farmers from Rajasthan are moving with their cattle in front of them, apparently as a safety net against police action.

In Haryana, the police are back to placing boulders on the highways to stop farmers from approaching Delhi, but this seems not to be deterring the protesters.

On the farmers’ plans to close more borders in Delhi, Tikait said this was a work in progress and added that the farmers were not stopping the movement of milk and vegetables.

“Those who produce milk and vegetables too are farmers. If we stop them, the companies will benefit. Nor do we want to inconvenience the consumer or make the consumer pay more. Our aim is not to trouble people,” he said.

“We have nothing against the people, who are helping us. So we are just sitting at the borders peacefully. Other access routes are open; we are not sealing the borders.”

On Monday, all the farmer union leaders will observe a day’s hunger strike while farmers will gherao district collectors’ offices and submit memorandums expressing their demands and addressed to the Prime Minister.

The idea is to have representations from every district of the country reach the PMO.