Farmers Movement Archive

Covid rages on, so does farm protest

BATHINDA: The ongoing farmers protest on the borders of Delhi turned 150 days old on Saturday with no signs of fizzling out in near future, even as Covid-19 cases continued to rise in the national capital and across Haryana and Punjab. On both Singhu and Tikri borders between Delhi and Haryana, where the protests have been goining on against the three farm laws since November last year, farmers and unionists said they would not vacate protest sites simply over the rise in Covid cases. Farm leaders have been asking protesters not to fear Covid, but adopt precautions like wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing. The unionists have, in fact, started describing the latest Covid wave as “another failure of PM Narendra Modi government”. “Do not fear from coronavirus, but only use precautions as the central government is trying to use Covid to scare farmers. If coronavirus is so serious, why did the Prime Minister and Union home minister held big rallies in poll-bound West Bengal? As this protest is getting wider, the government is using lies to get it vacated,” said Balbir Singh Rajewal, a senior farm unionist while addressing a crowd at the Singhu border on Saturday. While heading for Delhi on November 26, 2020, farm groups had claimed that they had come prepared for camping on the state borders for at least six months and even more. Now, protesters are just a month away from that target, which has now been turned into a protest with no definite end date. Showcasing their ability to carry on for a longer time into the protests, farmers have set up semi-pucca structures at protest sites for the summer. BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan too tried to motivate protesters against Covid at Bahadurgarh’s Pakora Chowk near Tikri border. “We do not fear it (Covid) as we are hardworking people who have strong immunity. Corona or no corona, we will continue to fight for the repeal of farm laws. We will not return till we achieve our demand,” he said. Protesting farmers have faced near-zero-degree temperature during winter and say they are now ready to face the summer heat of May-June. So far, at least 300 protesters have died at the protest sites, with the average coming to two deaths each day.

The Times of India

2021-04-25

Amritsar