Farmers Movement Archive

‘Not official voice of farmers’

In the second edition of Trolley Times — a four page newsletter in Punjabi started by a group of youngsters — published on Tuesday, they stated they are not the official voice of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha. In a column explaining ‘What is Trolley Times’, they said: “Trolley Times is not the official paper of Kisan Morcha. Our intent, without malice and ulterior motive, is to simply represent peoples’ voices. We are aware that partisan publishing representation can create rifts in the movement. The newsletter is made to clarify the real news amidst fake news.” Dalit representation On page 2 of the newsletter on Tuesday is a story of a woman, authored by freelance journalist Sangeet Toor, regarding the Dalit representation at the protest. The story is of a 23-year-old Dalit woman, Kulvir Kaur, (name changed) fromSangrur district in Punjab,who wanted to pursue Bachelors in Education but because of a fee increase in reserved category, she couldn’t. She instead completed her Masters in Arts from distance learning after which she got involved in daily-wage labour work with her mother. “Do you go for protests?” the author reportedly asked the woman. “We are the kind of the political part who can’t do as they like,” the woman said. The woman is reported to have said that if she went for protests, the society will start talking about her and her marriage will become difficult. Kulvir told the author that she wants to take part in the protest but she has seen how her mother and other women from the community are treated by the police and other authorities. Loose translation of the story written in Punjabi quoted the woman as saying: “To register their names in the history, to mark their presence in a historical movement and then to return home for a decent life are privileges many of our sisters simply do not have. Their desire is their participation”. Voices of unheard Jasdeep Singh, an editor at Trolley Times, said the reason to publish the story is “to be able to give space to underrepresented voices”. Ms. Toor said she had met many labourers and members of Dalit community who wish to take part in the protest but can’t. “The women said that if a young woman from their community participates, a campaign to malign her image will be started by the village office-bearers,” she said.

The Hindu

2020-12-23

NEW DELHI