Kisan Shaheed Smarak: A Memorial to Those Who Died During the Nationwide Farmers’ Protest
Vallari Sanzgiri
10 Apr 2021: As many as 360 people died by April 7, 2021 while participating in the nationwide farmer’ struggle, they are now seen as martyrs of the movement. Many martyrs were the sole breadwinners of their families, their absence an irreparable loss that left many families haplessly fending for themselves. Yet, when Mitti Satyagraha Coordinator Guddi Tiwari talked to a mother about her son’s death, she received the reply, “If I had four sons, I would have sent them to each Delhi border.”
As an homage to this brave declaration, five memorials nowadays stand near Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur and Shahjahanpur borders. Every memorial contains the soil accumulated by the satyagraha from various historical places like freedom fighter Bhagat Singh’s village Khatkhad Kalan, Sukhdev’s village Ludhiana, Udham Singh’s village Sangrur, Chandrashekhar Azad’s birthplace Bhabhara, Jhabua, Bardoli farmer movement sites, Sivasagar in Assam, Singur and Nandigram in West Bengal, Uttar Dinajpur, Vasava Kalyan and Bellary in Karnataka and hundreds of other places from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.
However, what surprised Guddi were appeals from local artists to contribute in the making of these memorials. Visual artist Kulpreet Singh from Patiala, Punjab reached out to organisers offering to help in the making of memorials at Singhu and Ghazipur border. What resulted from this offer were two sculpted jyots (flames) using proficiently-cut metal sheets with images of grains, farmers tilling the field, their bullock driven plough, the sun and the moon.
“The construction is welded together and painted in black for extreme contrast with the surroundings and the gaps of the cut outs,” says Singh while speaking to SabrangIndia.
Special pegs attached to the structure, allow for the satyagraha’s kalash (earthen pots) to surround the flame. One pot was also kept at the centre of the flame. Singh says the memorial conveys how a farmer wars and works with natural elements like the wind, water, and fire to feed the whole nation.
“Today that same farmer is sitting at Delhi borders for his basic rights. This sculpture is dedicated to all who sacrificed their lives for the good of all. It has been named the Martyrs’ Column. This work belongs to everyone coming to Singhu and Ghazipur. This is yours too. Just like the soil, this work belongs to all of India. It is a symbol of reverence rather than a sculpture,” he says.
The veteran artist has been participating in the farmers’ struggle against the three laws since the rail-roko protests in Punjab. Regarding the events that unfolded in past months, he says that the government has behaved poorly and argued that a vibrant democracy thrives on mutual respect between the government and the public.
He also praises the mitti satyagraha by quoting Guru Govind Singh, “मानस की जात सबैएकै पहिचानबो,” which roughly translates to recognise the whole human race as of one caste. Singh said the satyagraha rose from all religious beliefs and castes; blurring the lines of the upper and the lower (economically and socially) and reached the Singhu border.
Similarly, ANHAD Founding member Shabnam Hashmi hails the atmosphere at and around Tikri border protest sites, where people from various sections of society had arrived to express solidarity to the movement, saying, “You can see Bhagat Singh’s legacy at these sites. It is amazing. You return from there energised after witnessing the power of the movement.”
Hashmi along with Bhavna Sharma, Leena Dabiru, Gauhar Raza arrived 48 hours before the satyagraha arrived at the Bahadurgarh protest site near the Tikri border to create an installation to honour the farmer martyrs. The end result was a melange of martyr photos, painted kalash and plants to represent a better future, said Guddi.
SKM leaders such as Balbir Singh Rajewal, Dhanpal Singh and Harinder offered the photos while the Trolley Times group provided a list of all the deceased. The temporary memorial was inaugurated with a special anthem that was sung by singers Vedi and Pakhi Sinha.
Guddi applauds all villagers, who sent the soil of their villages to the satyagraha through buses and trains. Even in Gujarat, where state police hindered their procession and cancelled their events, citizens collected and presented the soil from 400 state villages to the satyagraha at Ahmedabad. To Tiwari, it proves that the emotion and individual freedom of Gujarat farmers cannot be stopped despite state repression.
An artist from the state capital had also asked to create the Shahjahanpur borders. Now, the area near Rewari is marked by hundreds of kalash hoisted on black poles to honour martyrs who fought for farmers’ rights.
About mitti satyagraha
A collective of India’s people’s movements came together to start a soil satyagraha, reminiscent of the historic salt march carried out by Mahatma Gandhi during the Independence struggle. Participants were to pick up a fistful of soil and pledge to defend India’s fields, rivers, lakes and the public sector from private corporations.
Specifically, it honoured martyrs who died while decrying the central farm laws – the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance & Farm Services Act, the Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act – in the second half of the march.
(Courtesy: Newsclick.)
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Farm Laws: Intensifying Their Protest, Farmers Block Delhi-Meerut Expressway For a Day
Abdul Alim Jafri
10 Apr 2021, Lucknow: Intensifying their protest against the Union Government’s Farm Laws, agitating farmers in western Uttar Pradesh have blocked the Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) at Dasna for 24 hours from this morning.
The blockade began at 8 am on Saturday and will last till 8 am on Sunday. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of protesting farmers’ unions spearheading the agitation against the three laws, gave a call for a 24-hour blockade of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway on Friday.
On Saturday the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) – one of the protesting farmers’ unions – said that farmers blocked the highway to reiterate their demand of a rollback of the three contentious laws. The union added that all entry and exit points on the highway will be closed without disrupting commuters dealing with emergency situations.
“It has been more than four months since the protests began at Delhi’s borders and the government is not even showing basic humanity towards the protesters,” BKU state spokesperson Dharmendra Malik, who led the protest, told Newsclick.
He added that efforts were being made to “suppress” the farmers’ movement in lieu of a rise in COVID-19 cases across the country. However, he said, the agitating farmers would not let the Centre turn the farmers’ protest into another Shaheen Bagh. “Night curfew or a lockdown may be imposed in the entire country, but the farmers’ stir will continue until the government repeals the farm laws,” Malik added.
The Eastern Peripheral Expressway connects the capital to several cities in western Uttar Pradesh – Meerut, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Shamli and Muzaffarnagar. Farmers from these regions, primarily associated with the BKU, joined the stir to step up the pressure on the government to repeal the farm laws.
Subhash, a farmer leader from Ghaziabad, who joined the protest, said: “The government thinks the farmers will return home in the summer. Earlier, they thought we would go back home in peak winter as well. But we will not budge an inch from here. Like we survived the winter, we will brave the scorching heat too.”
There was heavy deployment of Uttar Pradesh Police personnel and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the area to persuade the farmers to vacate the expressway. “The Eastern Peripheral Expressway has been blocked by farmers protesting against the three farm laws at Dasna. We are talking to the farmer representatives to ensure early opening of the highway,” Shailendra Kumar Singh, ADM Ghaziabad, told reporters, adding that traffic diversions have been made and asked commuters to avoid the Delhi-Meerut Expressway.
Movement Won’t Slacken During Harvesting
The Ghazipur Border – one of the centers of the farmers’ protests – has witnessed a lower number of farmers for the last 15 to 20 days. Ever since the protest began at the capital’s borders in November last year, the number of protesters at Ghazipur has dipped for the first time.
According to Pawan Khatana, BKU’s Meerut zone president, most of the farmers have returned to their respective villages for harvesting and will return to protest site after selling their yield. “All of them will return in two to three weeks and our movement will gain momentum again,” Khatana told Newsclick.
“The impact can been at the Ghazipur Border because it has more farmers from western Uttar Pradesh. Farmers from adjoining areas used to visit on a daily basis but they are engaged in harvesting and the procurement process. However, they will return with the same zeal and will join the stir, probably in the last week of April,” said Khatana, adding that the government was “highly mistaken” if it thought the farmers would return “empty-handed”.
(Courtesy: Newsclick.)
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Protesting Farmers Block Kundli–Manesar–Palwal Expressway in Haryana
PTI
10 Apr 2021, Chandigarh: Intensifying their protest against the three farm laws, farmers blocked the Kundli–Manesar–Palwal expressway at some places in Haryana on Saturday.
The blockade started at 8 a.m and would last 24 hours.
The 136-km-long expressway is also known as the Western Peripheral Expressway.
Protesting farmers, however, said emergency vehicles will be allowed to ply.
Bhartiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) general secretary Harinder Singh Lakhowal said the blockade would be for 24 hours.
Haryana Police in the meanwhile issued a traffic advisory, asking travellers to avoid the KMP expressway.
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Navdeep Singh Virk on Friday said elaborate arrangements were in place to maintain peace and order, prevent any kind of violence and facilitate traffic movement and public transport on the expressway.
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Save FCI, Save PDS’: Farmers Tell Centre Through Pan-India Protests
Ravi Kaushal
05 Apr 2021: Intensifying their protest against the Farm Laws, farmers’ organisations on Monday gheraoed the offices of the Food Corporation of India in a series of protests in the first fortnight of April called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha. The protests witnessed a massive participation of women, the elderly and young farmers. Several plays were enacted by local theatre groups, with community bonds strengthened through a shared langar during the day-long protest.
Darshan Pal, who heads the Krantikari Kisan Union, said that the protests were organised across the country with major dharnas taking place In Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. “In AP, there were protests in Vijayawada and Ongole on the occasion. In Haryana, places like Kaithal, Gurgaon, Rohtak, Fatehabad, Sonipat, Ambala, Karnal, Baddowal Chowk saw these protests with thousands of farmers participating in the same. Noida’s FCI office was also gheraoed by the farmers today. Uttar Pradesh saw protests in Atrauli, Aligarh, in Ayodhya, Allahabad’s Jasra block and in other places. In Bihar’s Sitamarhi too farmers joined the protest at the FCI godown there in large numbers,” he said.
“In Rajasthan, protests took place in places like Sriganganagar, Nagaur and Sawai Madhopur. Punjab witnessed many protests too. Bhawanigarh, Sunam, Barnala, Sangrur, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Mansa and Amritsar were some of more than 60 places where the protests were organised. Here, farmers protested against the new guidelines and quality parameters that the Centre is trying to force onto the state, in a direct attack on the farmers of Punjab,” he added.
Marking the day as ‘Save FCI Day’, the farmers’ leaders emphasised that the latest orders by the government with regard to procurement of produce were targeted at “dismantling” FCI. They said it would eventually hit payment systems like the Minimum Support Price and distribution of ration through Public Distribution System to the poorest sections of the society. The farmers have been enraged by the latest order which suggest that the farmers would require to produce land registration documents.
Samyukta Kisan Morcha – the collective of farmers’ unions – has maintained that the order deprives the sharecroppers – they constitute about 40% of the total farmers’ population in Punjab – and will push them to private mandis infamous for fleecing peasants. Secondly, lands have still not been partitioned in the last three generations and lakhs of cases are languishing in courts to determine its ownership due to family feuds.
In a separate development, the mitti satyagraha under the leadership of veteran Gandhian environmental activist Medha Patkar, reached the Delhi border on Monday. As part of the movement she carried the soil from renowned centres of revolt during the national movement. The soil will be used to build a martyrs’ memorial in memory of farmers who lost their lives in the ongoing struggle.
(Courtesy: Newsclick.)
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Protesting Farmers Block, Gherao BJP MP’s Car in Haryana, Smash Windscreen
PTI
7 Apr 2021, Kurukshetra (Haryana): Protesting farmers on Tuesday blocked a BJP MP’s car, smashing its windscreen as he tried to leave a party worker’s home, police said.
Kurukshetra MP Nayab Singh Saini was at Shahbad Markanda, 20 kms from here.
Farmers protesting over the three contentious farm laws were sitting on a ‘dharna’ in front of Jannayak Janta Party MLA Ram Karan Kala’s home when they learnt that Saini had reached a BJP worker’s home in nearby Majri mohalla.
They then gathered outside the BJP worker’s home while Saini had tea inside, police said.
According to Saini, when he sat in the vehicle and tried to leave the place, over 50 protesters ‘gheraoed’ it. A few of them jumped over the vehicle’s bonnet while someone smashed the windscreen with a stone or a lathi.
He said it was with great difficulty that the police got him out of the area in the SUV.
The MP said those who indulge in acts of violence against elected representatives cannot be farmers. Such people are defaming farmers, he added.
Police were deployed in large numbers in the area after the incident.
In another incident, a group of farmers raised slogans when Women and Child Development Minister Kamlesh Dhanda’s cavalcade was passing through Kaithal district to attend an event in a village.
Another group of farmers raised slogans against state BJP chief Dhankar shortly before he was to arrive for a party event in Panipat. The police had to take an alternate route to make him reach the event venue.
Tuesday’s incidents are the latest in a series of protests by farmers against ruling BJP-JJP coalition leaders in Haryana.
On Saturday, farmers had held a protest against Khattar in Rohtak, resulting in a lathicharge by the police and forcing authorities to shift the landing site for his helicopter.
Farmers also held a protest last week against Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala outside the Hisar airport.
Farmer leaders have said they would continue their peaceful social boycott of leaders from the BJP and its allies.
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In Gujarat, Rakesh Tikait Spreads His Message of Farmer Unity
Indra Shekhar Singh
Palanpur: With the coming of the green mango season, Rakesh Tikait spent some time in Gujarat early this month, in an attempt to “seed a revolution”.
The battle lines were already drawn before Tikait’s journey to the state — the Gujarat government recently arrested Bharitya Kisan Union leader Yudhvir Singh while he was addressing a press conference in Ahmedabad.
Tikati’s plan was simple – make alliances, political and apolitical, and cover over 500 kms through a road rally. The route planned was one from the northern border of Gujarat, crossing through major agricultural and religious sites, and ending up in Surat in two days. Along with local organisers from Samyukta Morcha, he was joined by “Bapu” Shanker Sinh Vaghela, a former chief minister of Gujarat.
This reporter began the journey tracking Tikait’s entourage on a train to Gujarat, next to two farmers from Aravali district, who were unsuccessful in selling their potato harvest in Gujarat and now had travelled to Delhi’s Azadpur Mandi. “Modi ji promised us that our potatoes will fetch the price of gold, today we cant even get Rs 1 for a kg,” DK Chaudhary, a middle aged potato farmer, said.
“We spend 90,000 per acre growing potatoes, but once the harvest season approaches, the prices plummet, and the cold storage is pre-booked by a handful of merchants, who then dictate prices for farmers,” he added.
Chaudhary is among many, disillusioned Gujarat’s agriculture model, which is slowly growing more unsustainable for small farmers, even as it becomes lucrative for the free-market.
We continued to talk about his 15 trucks of potatoes waiting at Delhi’s Azadpur Mandi, while others came to greet Tikait. Still hundreds of kilometres from Gujarat, Rakesh Tikait was already stirring an overflowing pot.
The next morning, the dry, red-soiled and rocky castor territory of Banas Kantha awaited us. A cavalcade of over 300 cars led by ex chief minister Shanker Sinh Vaghela, which brought Tikait from Abu Road, made its first stop at Ambaji temple. Amidst drums, dancing and sloganeering, Rakesh Tikiat pointed out “how farmers and youth were living under the terror of the police state”.
But how many people agree with this sentiment?
As the speeches finished and motorcade moved toward the next destination of Palanpur, this author cadged a ride with a former Gujarat MLA ( who had represented both the Congress and the BJP). He agreed to speak frankly, but only under the condition of anonymity.
The first question, on everyone’s mind, was whether the farmer protest and the mahapanchayats could translate into something tangible on the political front.
“The Congress cadre is dead in the state, even big names like Hardik Patel, have not attended the rally. How much political difference it will cause is yet to see,” the ex-MLA remarked.
But despite heavy police deployment along the way, villagers and farmers had come to greet and garland them. “Rising debt – Rs 2 lakh per farmer, drastically reduced incomes, and water shortage, were major issues for us,” Jaipal Mahadev, a farmer from Banaskatha, who had come to attend the rally said.
But can Tikait’s entry help improve the situation for farmers? “This area grows for potatoes, groundnut, jowar, castor, etc. Potato is the major crop, yet due to bad prices, farmers have to resort to throwing potatoes on the street,” P Sailesh, a farmer from Palanpur, says.
A castor farmer speaks of an equally bleak situation. To put this in context, India is the biggest producer of castor oil, much of it from northern Gujarat and Rajasthan.
“Farmers get as low as Rs 700 for their castor, where two corporations control all of Gujarat’s Castor. They sell raw castor abroad and buy back finished castor products from China and Japan, opening precious foreign exchange. Meanwhile traders also indulge in future trading on it. Castor is a perfect example of a cartel,” Jignesh Patel, a farmer from the Palanpur area.
The people assembled at Palanpur listened, and watched their leaders talk about the farm laws, but soon it was time to move to our next destination Unjha — Gujarat’s cumin city. On this route, the author found a place in a car with two unusual men – Gjendra Sinh, an advocate from Jamnagar and J K Patel, 40, farmer, who were also the main organisers of the campaign. Their stories revealed bitter infighting, political maneuvering and sabotaging of the campaign by political players.
“There are people from AAP and Congress present among us. Many of them whom have no relevance to the farmers cause, they are here to get their photos clicked,” Gjendra said.
Day 2 – Sabarmati to Swaraj Ashram
By 7 am, the motorcade reached Gandhi’s Sabarmati ashram, a uniquely 5-star adobe on the Sabarmati waterfront. Across it stood a high rise luxury apartment that cast its shadow on the press conference taking place. Rakesh Tikait gave the same message — “Free Gujarat” by “freeing farmers, press, youth, police and citizenry.”
The second day was politically charged as the caravan stopped at Sadar Patel’s house, and then his major ashram – Swaraj Ashram, Bardoli , and also gurudwaras all along the way. The marginalised groups of Gujarat politics – Muslim women, the Chaudhary community, Sikhs, ex-service veterans, farmers, etc – were attracted to this motorcade and vented their pain on everything from demonetisation to rising LPG prices.
“Rakesh Tikait is giving us new hope, he is the first leader, who we can trust, and can actually capable of fighting Modi,” Rabiya Sultan, a middle aged women, said.
The day went on, and towns and villages kept passing by. The most interesting aspect was that from the dry rocky land with castor, jowar, etc now we entered fertile soils with abundant water. By the time we reached Surat, one knew, an agrarian paradise was here.
“If you drive for a kikometre on this road, you will see sugarcane, castor, cotton, mango, banana and even eucalyptus all growing side by side, this is the best land,” Manish Zaveri, a farmer in Bardoli tells us. “But unfortunately, people here don’t want to farm. Most of the people are either earning from abroad, give land to tenets or have sold their lands for industrialisation.”
Land prices here ranged from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 4 crore an acre in Surat hinterland, he later said, massive industrialisation and urbanisation was already taking place.
Among all this talk, we arrived at our last stop – Shiv Mandir in Bardoli and the last public meeting of the rally. By now the author had a taste of Gujarat, and to probe matter further began a conversation with 40 year old Ibrahim, who farmed sugarcane in the area. “ If revolution has to begin in Gujarat we need 50 Tikait’s in every village. Otherwise it’s all fruitless. People here are very scared of the atrocities, of the police-raj.” Ibrahim said, refusing to mince his words.
(Courtesy: The Wire.)
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Farm Laws: How Punjab is Organising to Keep Protests Alive During Harvesting Season
Sagrika Kissu
07 Apr 2021: With the harvesting season barely days away, preparations in Bathinda district’s Chak Fateh Singhwala village are on in full swing. Jaswinder Singh, 45, will be harvesting 10 acres of his yield of wheat in a week’s time. Singh, who returned to his village two days ago from the Delhi border will be helped by his friend and two men from the neighbourhood.
Nearly each year, Singh and his father, 65-year-old Jagrat Singh, would harvest the fields. However, the situation is a bit different this time around. Singh is alone, as his father is at the Delhi border protesting against the three contentious Farm Laws.
Singh believes working and protesting should go hand-in-hand. “The day I came back to Punjab, my father left for the border. Both, the farm produce and the agitation at the borders, are essential for our survival. We can’t let go of one for another,” he added.
With harvesting season setting in and a sizeable population of farmers protesting, Punjab is showing the way on how to keep an agitation alive and get work done too.
The logistics required for harvesting will be shared among the farmers. “It is primarily machine work. A combine harvester is the key equipment required for harvesting. Aside from that many tractor-trolleys are at the borders. Few have been brought back. So the tractor-trolleys will be shared among villagers depending on who is harvesting on that day,” said Singh.
A combine harvester is essential during the harvesting period as it enables the reaping of yield in one go and requires lesser labour.
According to Singh, the fields of those who are protesting at Delhi’s borders will be harvested first. Meetings have been held in every gaali (neighbourhood) on how this will be coordinated and the logistics required.
“The plan will ensure that nobody suffers losses. So, meetings are being held at the neighbourhood level. Everyone has come out in support,” he added.
Veer Devinder Singh, who resides in the same village, has been helping the families who have been at the borders. He said that the number of protesters at Delhi’s borders should not be allowed to dwindle.
A meeting was organised by the farmers’ unions few days ago where a plan was fleshed out. “The harvesting depends on when the crop was sown back in November and December – when the crop will mature. So it will vary, which will help us in deciding when and where one needs to be available,” he added.
Besides neighbourhood-level meetings, village-level and district-level plans have also been drawn out. A three-tier system of neighbourhood, village and district has been created to cover all the protesting farmers’ families and ensure that no one faces a loss. Farmers told Newsclick that people are leaving for Delhi’s borders in batches based on harvesting time. “A batch leaves from one district for home, a batch from another district arrives. So, the farmers are coming and leaving district-wise, also to step up the process of harvesting,” said Devinder.
The general consensus among the farmers is that the government intended to show that the movement was dying out during the wheat harvesting season. “The government has been waiting for the wheat harvesting season so that the crowds at the borders reduce, which it will use to further its agenda that the movement has died. We were aware of this and hence proper planning has been done to keep the agitation going,” said another villager, Gurvinder Singh.
Punjab produced about 17.5 million tonnes of wheat last year, with the number expected to touch about 18 million tonnes this year.
To keep the movement alive, a series of village-level meetings were held last month. A team has been created which will carry the produce from the protesting farmers’ families to mandis. In case help is needed with the harvesting, the members from the team will see to it. The team consists of workers, local farmers, and volunteers in support of the agitating farmers.
“The team was created to help the protesting farmers’ families back in Punjab. The team will help with logistics, harvesting and essentially, with carrying the produce to mandis. The struggle is long. We are prepared for it,” said Devinder.
(Courtesy: Newsclick.)
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Nothing, Not Even COVID-19 Fear, Can Disrupt Our Protest Against Agri Laws, Say Farmers
PTI
9 Apr 2021, New Delhi: The alarming rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi notwithstanding, farmer leaders on Thursday said that nothing, not even the fear of coronavirus, can disrupt their protest against the agri laws.
Over the past four months, the farmers have managed to keep their agitation going, withstanding extreme cold, rains, and heat.
They devised many ways to deal with these issues – for cold there was ample supply of winter wear, for rain they elevated their beds, and to prepare for the heat, they have started building houses, and arranging for ACs, coolers and fans.
Tackling the second wave of COVID-19 won’t be very different for them, they said, adding they are prepared with certain basic precautions in place.
“We have been making announcements from the stage at the Singhu border about the necessity of wearing masks, and washing hands frequently. We are also encouraging the protestors to get vaccinated,” said Lakhbir Singh, vice president (Punjab) of All India Kisan Sabha.
With multiple health camps at these protest sites, immediate medical assistance is always at the farmers’ disposal in case a protestor develops symptoms like fever or breathlessness.
“If somebody has fever or cold, or any other COVID-like symptoms, then the doctors here take a call. The patient is either admitted to a hospital, or sent back to their village for 8-10 days,” said Jagmohan Singh, general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Dakaunda).
On Friday, India registered a record single-day spike of 1,31,968 new COVID-19 cases. Delhi too, recorded 7,437 fresh cases in its highest single-day spike this year, with the capital’s death roll reaching 11,157 on Thursday.
One of the major threats that seems to loom over the farmers movement with the rising number of COVID-19 cases, is the repeat of what happened to the Shaheen Bagh protest last year – they were forced to end the agitation fearing the spread of the disease.
This year, Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav said, however, the situation was different.
“That time, there was a sense of doom, a sense of ‘you don’t know what would happen’ with corona. It was just the beginning… we didn’t know anything at that point.
“Now, that unspecified sense of doom is not there, and therefore, while at that time the government could use that as a pretext to get the protestors to move away, using that now would be utterly cynical,” he said.
He added that if the government uses the coronavirus as an excuse to remove the protesting farmers, it would only expose their “hypocrisy” with the election campaigning underway in West Bengal.
“In that case they should ban election campaigning in Bengal. The first thing they should do is to ban BJP’s own rallies, where the home minister is addressing the crowds. The hypocrisy of that would obviously be seen,” Yadav said.
Ask Paramjit Singh if the farmers are afraid of contracting the disease that has already claimed over 1.6 lakh lives in the country, and he says, “what choice do we have?”
“Our lives are already on the line. We were afraid of the biting cold, and are afraid of the heat that awaits us, so yes, we are afraid of the disease but there is no other option,” he says.
“We are taking precautions at individual levels by wearing masks and avoiding shaking hands with people, but the movement has to and will continue,” the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) Punjab general secretary said.
