Police lathi-charge INLD supporters protesting over SYL canal issue

A protest at Jantar Mantar turned violent when hundreds of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leaders thronged Parliament Street to protest over the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue on Wednesday, prompting police to lathi-charge the protesters

Initially protesting at Jantar Mantar, the protesters then started a march towards Parliament to press their demands. Since the incident took place close to Parliament House, huge security forces, including paramilitary forces, were rushed to the spot to bring the situation under control.

According to the police, the protesters — which included farmers from Haryana and some Jat quota agitators also joined them — forcing police to resort to lathi-charge to disperse the crowd. Traffic in the high-security zone was also affected as the cops had kept a water canon on standby to prevent any untoward incident during the protest. The police also detained a few protesters and took them to the Parliament Street police station.

Protesters are generally cordoned off around Patel Chowk roundabout area but these agitators suddenly spilled onto the street from other routes.

The SYL canal issue has long been a bone of contention between Punjab and Haryana. The matter had reached the Supreme Court where last November it had ruled that a law passed by Punjab in 20014 to terminate the SYL canal water sharing agreement with neighbouring states was unconstitutional.

On February 23, several INLD leaders from Haryana, including Abhay Chautala, were stopped from marching Punjab from the Haryana side, when they had tried to undertake the digging of the SYL canal.