Rail roko successful, govt will have to repeal agri laws: Farm unions

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), on Thursday said the Centre will have to repeal the legislations as "anger among farmers is intensifying" in the country.

Calling its four-hour nationwide rail blockade a "peaceful and successful event", the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of the farm unions protesting against three new agriculture laws, on Thursday said the Centre will have to repeal the legislations as "anger among farmers is intensifying" in the country.

In a statement, the SKM claimed that trains were stopped from 12 noon to 4 pm at hundreds of locations across the country on Thursday.

The railways, however, said there was negligible or minimal impact on train services due to the "rail roko" protest of the farmers.

"It was a peaceful and successful event.... The citizens of India have opposed the attitude of the Centre towards the farmers' movement in large numbers," the SKM said.

"Anger among the farmers is intensifying and the Centre will have to repeal the laws," it stated.

The farmers' body said at various places, its leaders appealed to people on Thursday to come to Delhi's borders to strengthen the movement against the three contentious laws.

SKM member Jagmohan Singh said the unique support and the all-round activism of the people of the country have further strengthened the movement.

"The farmers' movement will be victorious and the motives of the (Narendra) Modi government will be thwarted," he was quoted as saying in the statement.

Earlier in the day, a spokesperson of the Indian Railways said there was negligible impact on train services due to the "rail roko" agitation called by the protesting farmers.

He said most of the zonal railways did not report any incident due to the protest.

"The rail roko agitation passed off without any untoward incident. There was negligible or minimal impact on the running of the trains across the country. Train movement in all the zones is normal now.

"Majority of the zones have not reported a single case of any stoppage of trains by the agitators. A few trains were stopped in some areas of some railway zones, but now the train operation is normal and trains are being operated smoothly. While dealing with the rail roko agitation, utmost patience was exercised by all concerned," the spokesperson said.