GHAZIABAD: After a prolonged lull, the sound of protest returned to UP Gate on Wednesday as farmers marked six months of the agitation against three agriculture laws brought by the Centre as ‘Black Day’ and Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait declared the stir would go on till 2024 – the year general elections are due – if needed. In a speech replete with pandemic analogies, Tikait told the modest crowd at the protest site the BKU was ready for the long haul and hit out at the Centre for not responding to the Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s (SKM) letter seeking resumption of talks. “By observing ‘Black Day’, we have administered the first dose of vaccine to the government. As for the second dose, we will chalk out plans very soon,” said Tikait, who went from a peripheral player to the focal point of the agitation when his tearful appeal renewed the protest after the January 26 violence in Delhi during the tractor parade SKM had planned. Giving his own interpretation of the medical oxygen crisis in Delhi-NCR during the second Covid wave, he added, “We saw how life-saving medicines and oxygen were locked up in big corporate hospitals. This is what will happen if we allow corporates to take over the farm sectors. Grains and farm produce will be locked up in their godowns due to the new farming laws.” The protesters wore black turbans and put up black flags on vehicles at the protest site. “We have written to the government for resumption of talks but received no response. If they think the delaying tactics will tire us out, they are wrong because we plan to carry on with the protest till 2024. We are not going anywhere. We have built semi-permanent structures at the protest site and before monsoon sets in, we will place tin shades on our tents. The protest will continue as long as required,” Tikait said. The numbers have thinned out at UP Gate because of the pandemic and commitments of the sugarcane season. But the small group of around 250 protesters that had stayed was joined by farmers who arrived from nearby districts on Wednesday. One of them, Satpar Singh of Modinagar, said, “I came to participate in the protest, which is again gaining momentum now.” Asked about the risk of infection spreading as a result of the gathering, Jagtara Singh, another protester, said, “If the government is concerned about us, they should take back the three farm laws and we will go home. Besides, as far as Covid safety protocol is concerned, where was it during the West Bengal assembly elections and UP panchayat elections?” Groups of farmers also gathered in various other places with black flags to mark their protest. But most were small gatherings as farmers said they did not want to compromise social distancing. In Noida, the BKU-Tikait protested outside its camp office in Dankaur and near Atta Chowk in Sector 27. Kisan Ekta Sangh members protested by wearing black bands and organised a hawan in Dankaur for better sense to prevail on the government. (Additional reporting by Shikha Salaria in Noida)