Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher criticised the Centre for its police action against the protesting farmers, saying many cultivators were injured.”We urge the government to stop all this and ensure a positive atmosphere. We were ready for talks yesterday and we are ready for it even today,” said Pandher.The farmers appeal to the prime minister to give a law to guarantee MSP as he has a big heart, he said.Pandher said neither the government was accepting their demands nor was it letting them head towards Delhi to put-forth their issues.Asked whether the farmers have received any invitation for holding talks, Pandher said it was being said the Centre was inviting them for a dialogue.”We will consider that invitation,” said Pandher while speaking to reporters at the Shambhu border. He said the objective of their agitation was that their demands are accepted. “We have not come for any confrontation with the government,” he asserted.Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has inquired about the health of a farmer who sustained injuries during a police action at the Shambhu border.During his visit to Rajpura hospital, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring arranged a conversation between Gandhi and the farmers over a mobile phone.The Punjab authorities have raised an objection with the Haryana authorities for the use of a drone for dropping tear gas shells inside the Punjab territory, said a senior official on Wednesday.On Tuesday, the farmers had clashed with Haryana Police personnel at two border points between the states, facing tear gas shells and water cannons as they tried to break the barricades blocking their protest march to the national capital.After a face-off with the police that lasted several hours on Tuesday, farmer leaders called off the protest for the day. They said they would resume the march from Shambhu on Wednesday.The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha are spearheading the ‘Delhi Chalo’ agitation to put pressure on the Centre for their demands, including a law on MSP for crops and loan waivers.During their protest on February 13 at the Shambhu border, the farmers, with the help of tractors, managed to remove some of the cemented barricades and iron nails, which were part of the elaborate arrangements made by the Haryana authorities to prevent protesters from heading to Delhi.Twenty-four police personnel, including a deputy superintendent of police, were injured as protesters hurled stones at them, officials said.The police used tear gas shells and water cannons against the protesters at the border in the state’s Jind district as well. According to the police, nine of their men suffered injuries in this clash at the Data Singhwala-Khanauri border.The Haryana government on Tuesday had extended the suspension of mobile internet services, bulk SMS and dongle services in seven districts – Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa till February 15.
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