Farmers Movement Archive

Not losing sight of our final goal: Farmers at Tikri

NEW DELHI: Satnam Kamboj, a farmer from Haryana’s Sirsa, arrived at Tikri border on Friday to mark one year of the protest against the three farm laws enacted by the central government. The 66-year-old farmer was last at the protest site around two months ago, but between then and now, there is a vast difference, said Kamboj. “The year-long protest has resulted in a half-victory. We want to win the battle fully, our aim now being to get legislation guaranteeing minimum support price for our produce,” said a serious Kamboj. On Friday, the atmosphere at Tikri border was energetic as farmers celebrated the one-year anniversary of protest that culminated in the central government announcing last week the repeal of the three contentious farm laws. The jubilations on Friday began with a special langar and distribution of sweet rice in the morning and ended with Punjabi singers performing in the evening. Thousands of men and women had arrived at Tikri in tractor trolleys from Punjab and Haryana and many more from Delhi too reached the border to express their support to the farmers. Many of those who had camped at the protest site for a year said the fight was difficult. They faced false accusations, chilling cold, heavy rain and scorching heat, but never lost hope. Sukhdev Singh, 78, of Bathinda’s Mandikalan village said he would continue his vigil at Tikri until all the farmers’ demands were met. “Despite the hardships, what motivated us to sit here was our precarious condition that could worsen if the three black laws were enforced,” said the septuagenarian. Resham Singh, 45, who too has stayed put at Tikri for the past year, recalled the sombre mood when he arrived here on November 26 last year. “The morale is high now, we have won half the battle with our resilience,” he said. The difficulties of the farmers in the past year was perhaps marginalised by the colour and crowd at the protest site on Friday. Sudesh Goyat, a fixture at the Tikri border for a year, said, “I sat on a hunger strike here with 11 women five times in the past year, each strike of five days.” She said they lost and gained many things during the protest. “Hundreds of protestors were martyred and many children lost their fathers. However, the protest helped in strengthening our unity as people from different backgrounds and states slept and ate under one tent,” said Goyat. Delhi resident advocate Amarveer Singh Bhullar was at Tikri on Friday. “After our country’s independence, a non-violent movement on such a big scale hadn’t been organised. But the farmers were defamed,” Bhullar claimed. Another Delhi resident, 19-year-old Harshpreet of Tilak Nagar, said, “I am here with my entire family to express gratitude to farmers and to celebrate their victory.”

The Times of India

2021-11-27

Delhi