Farmers Movement Archive

At the border, farmers from Punjab and Haryana find unity in adversity

Common misgivings about the laws, which they demand be repealed aside, and their proximity at the Delhi’s Singhu border for over a fortnight have brought protesting farmers from Punjab and Haryana together in more ways than one. A possible goal? Amid a sea of tractors, community kitchens and campsites stretching for kilometres, agitating farmers from both States said their newfound unity has brought them to acknowledge, and accept, shared cultural heritage they had almost forgotten, practices peculiar to their respective fields divided by State lines in the present and, in the idea of ‘Greater Punjab’, a possible goal for the future. The characteristic “hookah panchayat”, considered native to Haryana, was credited by many as having played a uniting role for agriculturalists from both States. A series of such meetings, they said, had made them question “imaginary State divisions between Jatts and Jats” created “solely for political and divisive reasons.” “The Punjabi farmer has overcome his dislike of tobacco smoke from the hookah and joins us for our panchayats without fail. Old or young, Jat or Jatt, we sit and think about the greatness of undivided Punjab every day. Maybe that is the way forward after this battle — a fight for a Greater Punjab,” said Suresh Dhaka, a protester from Haryana’s Sirsa district. ‘Politics divide’ Manvinder Singh from Punjab’s Doda district said if the last 11 days had taught him anything, it was that differences between Punjabis and Haryanvis, which led to the State’s division in the past were “purely political.” “The only difference between Jatt and Jat is in the way you spell either word just like there is slight difference in the languages that we speak. We go to their hookah panchayats and they have learnt how much better their experience of tending to their fields can become if they equip their tractors with the woofer speakers that are common in Punjabi fields,” Mr. Singh said. In the end, Harminder Dhillon, a farmer from Jalandhar, said farmers from both States were united by keerat (prayers) and kheti (farming). Meanwhile, farmers said they had been discussing modalities related to the Bharat Bandh on Tuesday in addition to a march to Parliament if the government did not accede to their demands after talks on December 9 risking possible clashes with security personnel. “All we are waiting for now is a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ from the government. There will be no more talks after Wednesday. If they say yes to our demands we will go back happily, if they say ‘no’, we will happily march on New Delhi to the Parliament to get ourselves heard properly,” said Avtar Singh Gill from Amritsar.

The Hindu

2020-12-08

New Delhi