Farmers Movement Archive

‘Youngsters are watching us’

Wit and candour were in good supply at the farmers’ protest on Saturday as it entered the tenth day on the border that connects Uttar Pradesh to Delhi. “Every morning, when I come to the protest site after taking a bath in the nearby gurdwara, I see policemen looking fresh in their uniforms. I request them to give me a few blows so that the agitation gets wings as it did in Haryana, but somehow the administration in Ghaziabad is refusing to give us the prasad ,” chuckles Sukhraj Singh, 62, who has come from a village in Hapur district in Uttar Pradesh. This is his sixth day at the protest site and he hasn’t lost his sense of humour. There are many layers to the farmers’ stir. When it started, it was led by the Bhartiya Kisan Union’s (BKU) Tikait faction, which decided to stay under the Delhi-Meerut flyover, making it easier for the police in Delhi and in Uttar Pradesh. However, when the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan (RKMS) and Kisan Sabha joined them, some of the farmers shifted base to the flyover, blocking one of the lanes of the highway that brings traffic from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi. Gurshanjeet Singh of RKMS says they were all together in the protest but it was also a fact that those sitting beneath were playing a “friendly game” till they arrived. “We came here because the government was not listening to us as long as we were in Burari. They listen to those who block roads. Now, no farmer leader can cheat his followers because youngsters are watching and everything is on social media,” adds Mr. Gurshanjeet, in what sounds like a dig at the BKU leadership. Gained resolve One thing that this protest has done, he says,is evoking the interest of youngsters towards farming and its issues. “Now I can rest assured that my land would be tilled by my sons and grandsons. This government has given us the nischay (purpose) to hold on till our demands are met,” he says. Some have described it as the protest of big farmers. Dara Singh from Bazpur in Uddham Singh Nagar chips in, “Four workers and their families depend on me. If I don’t get the payment of sugarcane on time, how will I feed them?” he asks. The protest, he says, has given the women at home the excuse to shoo away creditors and escape embarrassment. “They would say, Sardar ji is in Delhi!” says the 70-year-old, ready for a long haul. Meanwhile, the Ghaziabad administration is trying hard to ensure the situation doesn’t go out of its hands. It is pushing the farmers to shift a little further into Delhi territory but as of now, the farmers are not in a mood to listen. Additional District Magistrate (City) Shailendra Kumar Singh, who is leading the negotiations, could be heard reciting couplets and praising the Sikh courage and the Jat wit in solving problems. On Friday evening, he successfully persuaded the group to not put a tent on the flyover for sleeping at night. “Don’t put any temporary or permanent structure on the highway. It will compel us to take action,” he said.

The Hindu

2020-12-06

Ghaziabad