Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers bid adieu to Singhu

On the 380th day of their protest, farmers camping on Delhi’s borders left for their homes with much fanfare — just the way they had reached here on November 26 last year. The stage at Singhu border, which had become a platform for farmer leaders and speakers to make their voices heard, was dismantled on Saturday morning. The Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway was abuzz with activity since early Saturday with trucks, trolleys and cars lined up for the journey, most of them decorated with flowers and balloons. A fully decorated yellow bus left for Mohali with protesters who had come to Singhu in the first week of December last year. The farmers sang and danced to drums and ensured that everyone crossing the street danced with them. “We have won and now we are going. This happiness must be shared,” said 22-year-old Balwinder Saini. Iron rods removed A few metres away from the protest site from KMP Expressway, Sardar Budh Singh, 68, from Ludhiana was busy pulling out iron rods which the farmers had installed on the road to erect their tents. “If bikers hit these iron rods, they would get hurt very badly. At night, they might not even see them. We are removing them so that no inconvenience is caused to the people,” Mr. Budh said. He added that after digging up the rods, they will quickly fill up the craters. “ Jaise aaye they, vaise hi jayenge (We will leave the place the way we were welcomed).” Many of the protesters cleaned up the sites before leaving. “There was a lot of waste here, especially disposables, which had to be removed. We cleaned up the place because we didn’t want the blame that we left a mess behind,” said Malkit Singh from Fatehgarh Sahib.

The Hindu

2021-12-12

NEW DELHI