Farmers Movement Archive

Homemakers, professionals & students from Punjab rally behind farmers’ cause

NEW DELHI: Women farmers, students, doctors and businessmen have come all the way from Punjab to offer their services at the on-going farmers’ protest. Spending the chilly nights in tractor trolleys, deprived of amenities and with little privacy even while bathing, they are gamely engaged in the demonstration, believing only that the protests will usher in a better future. Farmer Neelam Ghuman of Baba Bakala in Amritsar has left her children at home to participate in the protest. They are grown up, but finding it difficult to manage home in her absence, she said, adding, “The success of this movement will decide the future of our kids. They can manage without me for some time, but without income from our crops, life will be difficult for them.” Harinder Pal Kaur Bhutari and her son from the same district are both at the protest. “Living in trolleys is really difficult, but the locals have opened up their hearts to welcome us and even offered us the use of their toilets,” said a grateful Bhutari. “The government is not ready to fix the minimum prices for our maize crops and we were forced to sell them at lower rates. That is why despite this being the peak time for winter sowing, we decided to come here.” To energise the protest, each family from the villages of Punjab has sent at least one family member to Delhi. In between aiding the demonstrators, Paramjeet Singh, 18, of Ajnala in Amritsar finds time to study for his Class XII board exams at Singhu border, braving the poor mobile connectivity in the area. His father is back at home, preparing for the winter crop. “My brother and I serve dinner and lunch to the people and in the afternoons, I prefer to complete my school syllabus,” the teenager said. Singh’s friend and fellow villager Gurpreet Singh Dhillon is similarly preparing for higher studies. “As the only son among the children of my father and his three brothers, I came to Delhi,” he said. Dr Zeba Khan, a resident of Uttam Nagar, west Delhi, puts in 10-12 hours every day at the medical camp set up at Singhu border. “I run a charitable hospital and am associated for a long time with Bhartiya Kisan Samiti,” Khan said. “The farmers have been coming to me for fatigue, digestion problems and pain in their feet. Their problems are probably due to the winter cold and the long distances they have travelled.” She is relieved that so far, no person exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms has shown up, but continues to advise everyone to wear masks. “I think the authorities should provide people with masks and hand sanitisers,” she added. Overhearing Khan, farmer and businessman Beant Singh from Fatehgarh Sahib alleged that the central government was spreading canards about the protest. He asked, “If the central government was so concerned about Covid spreading, why did it choose this time to enact the laws, that too without consulting us?”

The Times of India

2020-12-02

Delhi