Massive Farmer Protest Block NH-52 in Madhya Pradesh for 18 Hours
Madhya Pradesh farmers suspend massive NH-52 siege after high-stakes assurances.
A determined gathering of nearly 5,000 farmers from Dhar, Barwani, Khargone, and Khandwa districts brought National Highway 52 to a complete standstill at Khalghat toll plaza in Dhamnod tehsil from the first light of Monday until well past midnight, marking one of the most disruptive agrarian protests in Madhya Pradesh in recent months before finally agreeing to a temporary suspension.
Led by the Rashtriya Mazdoor Kisan Mahasangh (RMKM), the protesters executed a total blockade by felling large trees across both carriageways, positioning hundreds of tractor-trolleys in formation, and occupying the toll plaza itself, effectively severing a vital arterial route linking northern and southern India and causing traffic chaos stretching over several kilometres in both directions.
The farmers presented a charter of non-negotiable demands that included a statutory guarantee of Minimum Support Price for all crops, unconditional waiver of agricultural loans, immediate repeal of provisions under the Land Pooling Act, payment of fourfold compensation in all land acquisition cases, and swift resolution of numerous grievances pending with district authorities for months despite repeated written submissions.
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As tensions escalated through the day, the district administration imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita across Dhar district and deployed more than 400 police personnel to maintain order. After hours of deadlock, Dhar Collector Priyank Mishra, Superintendent of Police Mayank Awasthi, and Khargone SP personally reached the protest site and held marathon negotiations with RMKM leaders, culminating in written assurances that the entire memorandum would be transmitted directly to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alongside arrangements for a farmers’ delegation to travel to New Delhi under the facilitation of Union Minister of State Savitri Thakur.
With these commitments secured, RMKM leaders addressed the exhausted yet resolute gathering and declared a temporary suspension of the highway blockade late Monday night. However, they issued a stern warning that the agitation would resume on a much larger scale and continue indefinitely if tangible action was not forthcoming, signalling mounting rural discontent in the politically crucial Malwa-Nimar belt of Madhya Pradesh.
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