Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers’ protest: More women join protesters at Delhi’s Singhu border

The number of women protesters swelled at Singhu border on Wednesday with several more groups joining in from parts of Punjab and Haryana. Majority of these women are either farmers or from the families of farmers, and have reached the Delhi-Haryana border to extend solidarity.Donning orange dupattas on their heads, a group of around 40 women from Panipat were seen sitting right in front of the main stage set up at the protest site on Wednesday. The group identified itself as “shabd mandali” or “kirtan mandali’. “We sing devotional songs during religious events. All of us are daughters, sisters, and wives of farmers. We know the gravity of the situation. The government has left farmers and their families with no choice but to come out on the roads,” said Amrit Kaur (42).The agitation at Delhi’s four key borders – Singhu, Tikri, UP Gate, and Chilla – entered its 35th day on Wednesday.Few steps away, another group of women from Amritsar was spotted with all of them wearing green dupattas on their heads. Among them, Harpreet Kaur, 56, said, “Whenever a group of women travels together to the protest sites, they decide to keep a colour code so that we can easily recognise our group members in the crowd. Around 100 women from different villages in Amritsar and other districts in Punjab arrived here last night to participate in the movement. Most of us are under huge debts already and that’s why we can’t let the government make our situation worse by introducing these new “black laws’’.”Also Read: Farm laws stir: Breakthrough as govt accepts two demands of farmersAnother group of around 40 women from Tarn Taran Sahib, all of them donning yellow dupattas, were also spotted at the protest site on Wednesday. “Our husbands and brothers are already here participating in the protest. We were taking care of our crops back home as of now. We are small farmers with meagre income. The new farm laws will rob us off that as well. We can’t let that happen to us. So, we decided to join the protest here,” said Paramjeet Kaur, 27, who has left behind her two-year-old daughter back home to participate in the protest.Some women, who had left for their hometowns earlier after facing difficulties due to lack of toilets and private spaces, also returned to the protest site now. “We had been informed that some women-only toilets and all-women tents were installed at the border. Things have become more comfortable now. More women are soon coming from other parts of Punjab and Haryana to join the protest,” said Mahinder Kaur, 45, a farmer from Patiala.Meanwhile, the situation remained peaceful at Delhi borders on Wednesday with protesters seen shouting slogans against the government, singing songs of resistance, taking out marches with posters and banners, and attending speeches delivered from the stage.

Hindustan Times

31-12-2020

Delhi