Farmers Movement Archive

Buddhist monks from UP ashram join farmers' stir at Ghazipur border

DEHRADUN: After closely following the massive farmer protest at the Delhi-UP border for weeks, a group of self-motivated Buddhist monks of an ashram in Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah have decided to join the movement against the three new farm laws at Ghazipur border on Friday. The group of around 50 monks - a few of them students studying in Lucknow University - claim to be "apolitical" and are directly associated with farming. Some of them are sons of farmers while others are farmers themselves. Calling the laws "ánti-farmer", Sumit Ratan, one of the protesting monks and representative of the Shravan Baudh Ashram in Etawah, told TOI, "I am a son of a farmer and like rest of the members I still work in our ashram's farmland. We have read the new farm bills in detail and then decided to extend our support to the farmers." On Friday, in freezing temperatures, the ashram monks took the Yamuna Expressway to reach the protest site. They were greeted by Jagtar Bajwa, a farmer leader from Bazpur tehsil in Udham Singh Nagar. Ratan, the ashram representative who hails from Etah and currently living in Lucknow, also said, “I have a double MA and M.Phil in education and I am not protesting just for the sake of it. These farm laws will do nothing good for farmers. It is only for industrialists.” Mangal Vardhan, another monk who is in his final year of graduation, said that they were "peace-loving, apolitical and associated with farming in one way or the other". "After seeing others at the protest site in the freezing weather for weeks, we decided to join for the national cause," Vardhan added. Some of these monks claimed that they did not join the stir now. They were already agitating against the contentious laws since the start of December in Lucknow's Gomti Nagar. "We joined the protest at the Delhi border since no one in Lucknow was listening to our voice," another monk said. While Sheelvansha, a young monk, said, “Yes, I am a Buddhist monk. But, I am a farmer’s son too.” The 18-year-old has recently enrolled himself for graduation (first year) in Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi. Meanwhile, Vijendra Singh Yadav, a leader from Bharatiya Kisan Union told TOI that the farmer protest has gone from strength to strength as people from all faiths and walks of life have joined the movement. “We are expecting 3,000 more Buddhist monks to join us in the next few days in Ghazipur. Most of them are sons of farmers as well,” Yadav, who hails from Sambhal, said.

The Times of India

2021-01-02

Dehradun