Farmers Movement Archive

Yogendra Yadav equates protest sites with Char Dham

Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav on Saturday equated the four venues at Delhi’s borders, where farmers were protesting for over a year against the Centre’s farm laws, with Char Dham, four pilgrimage sites for Hindus. Addressing a gathering at the Ghazipur border, Mr. Yadav said this is not a day for speeches, adding that whatever the farmers had said, they have done it. “Now, we will not speak but books and history will speak. The entire nation will speak. Today is just a day to remember that for the last one year, the meaning of Char Dham has changed in our country. People from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu used to come and say that they wanted to do a yatra of four places — the Singhu border, the Tikri border, the Ghazipur border and the Shahjahanpur border.... These [protest sites] had become Char Dham for the country,” he said. Although the protesting farmers will vacate these sites in two-three days, the names of these places will forever be etched in the hearts of people, Mr. Yadav said. “When our nation will recall the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, it will also recall the brutal killings of Lakhimpur Kheri,” said Mr. Yadav. He credited Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait for ensuring that the protest does not die down. “When people ask me what have you gained from this and what are you taking back home, I respond saying the farmers of the country have got their lost self-respect back,” Mr. Yadav said.

The Hindu

2021-12-12

New Delhi