Farmers Movement Archive

On relay fast, farmers say ready to die

NEW DELHI: Pukhvender Singh has a long to-do list — paying his loan instalment, looking after his crop and taking care of his family back home in Punjab’s Fazilka district — but nothing is bothering him more than the Centre’s “inflexible” stand of not revoking three “anti-farmer” laws. Sitting on a 24-hour relay hunger strike at the Tikri border on Thursday, Singh said farmers were ready to die for their demand. The strike will continue till Sunday, but farmers may also resort to an indefinite strike. “I will not think twice before going on an indefinite strike because this is all we can do to grab the Centre’s attention,” he said. “We are sitting here leaving everything behind, but nobody is taking us seriously. Our property, paddy fields and loan will automatically get settled if the laws are repealed,” said Singh, a member of Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta Sidhupur. Uddham Singh, state committee member of Jamhuri Kisan Sabha Punjab, said farmers were ready to sacrifice their life as it would motivate others, including their families, to fight for the cause. “A farmer not just feeds his family but also supports families of labourers working in his fields for nine months. However, a situation has occurred when we are not even getting minimum prices for our crops,” he said. “While we are forced to sell onion for Rs 2-2.5 per kilogram in mandis, it is available in the market for Rs 50. If big companies or middlemen enter farming activities, commercialisation will increase, and farmers, their families and labourers will become jobless,” he added. They aren’t ready to return without winning this fight. “It’s not that we didn’t raise voice against the Bills, but the government didn’t take us seriously. Now that we have arrived in Delhi, there is no going back,” Uddham concluded.

The Times of India

2020-12-25

Delhi