BKU-led farmers set to reach Rajghat
Ghaziabad, Oct 1 : Thousands of farmers from Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are set to reach Rajghat in Delhi to press the central government to concede their demands, the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) said on Monday.
The BKU-led 'Kranti Yatra', which started from Haridwar in Uttarakhand, has reached Ghaziabad and farmer leader Naresh Tikait said the farmers were determined to enter Delhi.
Earlier, the farmers were to spend Monday night in Ghaziabad for which the district administration had made arrangements at the Kamla Nehru Nagar ground.
In view of the heavy inflow of farmers, the administration has diverted public transport on National Highway 58.
The farmers spent Sunday night in Murad Nagar near the upper Ganga canal.
Tikait told reporters that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) grabbed power in 2014 by misleading farmers that their income would be doubled. Believing the party, the farmers voted for them.
"But after grabbing power in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has forgotten its promises. So we have come to remind them their promises," he said.
A memorandum to be submitted to the Centre includes 21 demands including implementation of the M.S. Swaminathan Commission report, waiver of farm loan, free electricity to farmers and allowing power connections to farmers to run tube wells.
Tikait said the farmers plan to reach Rajghat on Monday night or Tuesday morning "where we will pay tributes to Chaudhary Charan Singh, Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Babu Jagjivan Ram.
"Over one lakh farmers are expected to reach Rajghat although Delhi Police have sealed all entry points... We appeal to the government not to deprive us of our basic fundamental rights to pay tributes to our leaders."
Ghaziabad Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna said security arrangements had been tightened and nine companies of paramilitary forces had been deployed in Ghaziabad.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
