Farmers Movement Archive

Sagging spirits at the Singhu site

A day after violence in Delhi, it was business as usual at the Singhu border with protesters speaking on stage one after the other. But the crowd seemed less than usual and spirit perceptibly depressed. While a majority of the protesting farmers admitted that the violence should not have occurred, they believed a host of reasons led to the events. They allege that the government sent its “elements” to infiltrate the protest and incite the angry and frustrated youth. Lack of communication was another reason, they said. Disagreement between Nihang Sikhs and volunteers trying to maintain peace at the protest site was also visible on Wednesday. Pritam Singh Nihang, 60, said he agreed with what happened on Tuesday because the original plan was to hoist the flag at the Red Fort. “If they agreed later not to go there, then it only means they bent in front of the government and we wouldn’t do that,” he said. However, Nihang Sikhs’ leader Raja Raj Singh condemned the violence, but alleged that the farmer leaders had not led the protest. “Yes, our group went to the Red Fort and broke barricades, but that’s because they didn’t know who to follow. The leaders should have led the protest from the front so that no one deviated from the path. Our men got carried away when they were instigated,” he said. Responding to the claim, stage management committee member Amrik Singh, Bharat Kisan Union district pradhan (Jalandhar), said leaders along with volunteers were at the front and when they realised that the situation was going out of control, they started calling people back to their respective protest sites. “For so many days, we have been saying from the stage that there is no plan to go to the Red Fort. What certain groups did was wrong. Our fight is for farming and nothing else,” he said. Mahant Jasbir Das Singh, who has been on a hunger strike since December 13, said he went to the Red Fort but did not support the violence. “I don’t know who led us to the monument, but groups started going towards it so we did too. But when we reached, we unfurled the national flag, sang the national anthem and stepped out. A group of people, however, started creating a ruckus and hoisted the Nishan Sahib which wasn’t right,” he said, adding that other protesters got involved because of heightened emotions. “It was all planned and planted by the government. How could a place like the Red Fort — an hour after Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves — not have enough security to stop people,” asked Sukhwinder Singh Barwa, a protester from Ropar, who had gone till Mukarba Chowk and returned after the group was asked by the leaders to do so. Another protester Mehtab Singh, 68, from Amritsar said there were barricades on the route given by the Delhi Police, which led the protesters to take the other route at Mukarba Chowk. “When they didn’t allow us on the route that was given to us, that’s when people got angry and diverted,” he said.

The Hindu

2021-01-28

NEW DELHI