Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers to take home Singhu memories

The song and dance had started the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the repeal of the three farm laws but the roar of “ Jo Bole So Nihal ... Sat Sri Akal ” was loudest on Thursday when a speaker announced from the main stage at the Singhu border that all their demands have been accepted and they will leave for their homes on Saturday. Farmers camping at the protest site for the last 378 days broke into a celebratory dance as beats of drums played in the background. Removing the tarpaulin from his makeshift accommodation, Kuldeep Singh, 40, a farmer from Patiala, said he will miss the place a lot but is happy to return home. “Who could have imagined seeing so many trucks and trolleys and flags together at one place. I will miss this the most,” he said. “I am upset,” said Gandhi Vir Bhan from Haryana’s Kaithal, trying hard to hide his smile. “ Free main zameen mil gayi thi Delhi mein. Ab chhorni padegi (We had got free land to stay in Delhi. Now we will have to leave that),” he laughed with his peers. “It’s been a remarkable one year and probably the most memorable one of our lives,” he said. Life Care Foundation Hospital, which has treated thousands of people at the protest site in the last one year, will wrap up once all the farmers leave, said Avtar Singh, the man running the hospital. “We’ll go back with fanfare. There will be DJs on ‘Kisan Express’ and ‘Kisan Metro’ (trucks named so as they ferried protesters to the main stage),” said Mr. Avtar. The legacy of the hospital and Jangi Kitab Library — which have been a permanent feature at the site— will be memorialised at Cholang village in Jalandhar where a farmer has reportedly offered land for the memorial. “The replicas will be installed and every year, on November 26, we will gather there,” he said. Looking back, Mr. Avtar said not only farmers, but also the local residents had became the hospital’s regular patients. “We lost a little over 700 people during the protest. The numbers may have gone up drastically if not for the hospital.” According to Mr. Avtar, the protest was a success because of the elderly who didn’t budge. “If they would have given up and left because of circumstantial reasons, the protest would have fallen apart.” It was this protest that made Jagdev Singh, 55, from Barnala pick up his camera again after 20 years. Sharing his story, Mr. Jagdev said he was a wedding photographer for 10 years before he met with an accident and injured his leg. He quit photography and became a full-time farmer. “A year ago, when I came for the protest, I picked up my camera again and I don’t think I’ll stop now,” he said. The protest has also given life-long friendships to many. Jagtar Singh, 22, from Sangrur hugged his friend Jagmeher Singh, 47, from Patiala as he said: “We have become lifetime friends here. I know I have someone for me in Patiala and he knows he has me in Snagrur.” Mixed emotions As the protest comes to an end, the street vendors at the site are upset, while the shop owners in the vicinity are happy. Ramvir Singh, who had been setting up his stall at the Singhu border for a year now, said he and his family ate all the meals at the site and his business had also been going well. “I’ll now go back to the junction about a km from here and see how it goes there,” he said. Naresh Kumar, 42, a grocery store owner at Kundli junction, said his shop had been shut for over a year due to the protest and he is hoping to to revive his business now. “People lost their money and livelihood. Many shopkeepers left permanently because they couldn’t afford the rent. Now, there’s some hope,” he said.

The Hindu

2021-12-10

NEW DELHI