New Delhi, Jan 29 (TIWN): Farmer unions protesting at different border near Delhi have called for a fast on January 30, saying they would celebrate the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi as ‘Sadbhavna Diwas’. “We appeal to everyone in the country to join us in observing fast on January 30,” PTI quoted a Kisan Ekta Morcha leader as saying.

A group of men claiming to be local residents Friday clashed with the farmers, who are sitting at the Singhu border protesting against the three farm laws, and tried to enter the protest site. The police had to intervene and lobbed tear gas to disperse the clashing units. Several policemen, including Delhi Police SHO (Alipur) Pradeep Paliwal, and protesters have been injured in the clashes.

This comes after locals staged a protest against farmers on Thursday demanding their removal from Singhu border, complaining that the two-month-long agitation has made their daily commute difficult. Hundreds of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) members stayed put on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway on Friday as the crowd swelled there overnight, notwithstanding the Ghaziabad administration’s ultimatum to vacate the UP Gate protest site.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Friday said the farmers’ protests will spread to big cities if the government acts rigid and does not repeal the three contentious farm laws. “Most farmers, except the ones in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, haven’t understood the (farm) Bill completely. The government should know that these protests will not stop here. This agitation will spread from here to the big cities because it is not only the farmers who have been robbed of their livelihood. It is going to create instability which is not good for the country,” he said at a press conference.

Meanwhile, leaders of 18 Opposition parties boycotted the President’s customary address to a joint sitting of Parliament ahead of the Budget session in solidarity with farmer unions who have been protesting the three recently-enacted farm laws at Delhi’s borders. Responding to their joint statement, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi made an appeal to leaders to attend, saying “the government is ready to discuss all issues threadbare”.