Farmers Movement Archive

At Dibdiba, a grandpa grieves, in Kheri a father

Lakhimpur/Bareilly: On Republic Day last year, 75-year-old Hardip Singh Dibdiba had cried himself to sleep. He remembers that evening as if it was yesterday. The apple of his eye, his grandson Navreet, just 25 and back home from Australia after his marriage in that country to a girl he knew, had been killed during violent protests against the farm laws in Delhi. "There was darkness in our house, in fact in the whole of Dibdiba (a small village in Rampur)," he said. "People loved Navreet. He would have been so happy to hear the declaration by the PM on the farm laws today. I miss him so much." Navreet, a vocal opponent of the farm laws, had just returned to Rampur in UP from Melbourne after completing his graduation in commerce from a university there. He dived headlong into the farmers' agitation. His wife, Mansweet Kaur, 22, stayed back in Australia to finish her masters. She had told him she would join him later. After Navpreet died, the cause of his death mired in conspiracy theories, his body was sent to Rampur and the autopsy done by a panel of three doctors. The report mentioned “shock and haemorrhage as a result of ante-mortem head injury”. However, the doctors also noted that "brain matter had spilled out of an everted wound near the right ear". The Dibdiba family claimed that the wound was the result of a bullet shot at him while he was driving a tractor. Dibdiba "collected evidence" and moved the Delhi high court on February 10, contesting the official version. He maintains to this day that his grandson was "murdered". The case is pending. But this agitation, he said, was also about thousands of other farmers. So Friday's turn was welcome. “Our blood and sweat has paid off. I lost my grandson, but nearly 700 families lost their kin too.” Some distance away, in Lakhimpur Kheri, relatives of farmers killed in Tikunia on October 3 when four of them were allegedly mowed down by a convoy of cars led by Ashish Misra, the son of junior Union home minister Ajay Mishra, the government’s decision has come "too late". Jagdeep Singh, son of Nachhatar Singh, 60, who was one of the farmers crushed by one of the SUVs, said, “Several lives would have been saved had the government realised this a bit early. We are mourning, but we are happy for the larger cause. My father’s fight against the farm laws is won but we will carry on our battle for justice until those responsible for the Kheri deaths are sent to jail.” Next door, it was a father who was grieving. Satnam Singh said, "Lovepreet Singh was just 19 years old when he was killed. My son was a student and always used to take time out to protest peacefully against the farm laws. How can one ever fill such a vacuum? If only the government decision had come before (the incident at) Lakhimpur Kheri." Jasbir Singh Virk, national president of the Bhartiya Sikh Sangathan, said, “Every person who lost his life while protesting will be remembered and recognized as a martyr of the movement. We fought together and forced the government to withdraw the laws.”

The Times of India

2021-11-20

Bareilly