On Friday morning, 33-year-old Shanky Rana typed out a hasty text message to his boss asking for a half-day leave. The Delhi resident, bubbling with joy, woke his five-year-old daughter Kamakshi up, and asked her to get ready for a celebration. “Papa ne bola kisan jeet gaye,” said Kamakshi, as she waved a yellow flag, at Delhi’s Singhu border.
She was at the farmers’ protest site with her parents, and her six-month-old sibling, who was snug in a woollen jacket, with a “We Support Farmers” badge pinned on it.
The scenes at Delhi’s Singhu border on 19 November -- after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the three farm laws will be repealed -- were of unbridled joy. The Gurpurab celebrations took on a whole new colour and festive fervour as protesters sang and danced, cooked vessels of halwa and kilos of laddoo, and drove around the site in their tractors with Babbu Maan songs on loop.
“I come from a farmers’ family, and while I work at an MNC in Gurgaon, the elders of my family have been protesting for a year. I join the protest as often as I can, and as soon as news of the repeal came in, I knew I had to be at the protest site with my wife and children,” said Shanky.
SINGHU PROTEST SITE SWELLS
For 58-year-old Rohtas Beniwal, a farmer in Haryana’s Sonipat, 19 November morning was just like any other. He was at home with his family when he heard the PM’s speech, and within minutes, neighbours stepped out of their homes, with whatever sweets were available at home, to congratulate each other.
“Gaon mein hawan kiya, dhol baje, mithaiyaa bati, aur phir hum apne tractors lekar Singhu vaapis aa gaye,” said Beniwal, as he showed a video on his phone.
Also present at the site was 23-year-old Delhi resident Jagroop Singh, who works in a mushroom trading company. For the last one year, Singh has been showing up at one of the three protest sites -- Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur -- on his off days, along with his mother and two sisters.
“Finally, the government has some shame. Our elderly have been sleeping on roads through terrible winter, summer, and rains for a whole year. We are here to stay, however, and will only leave when the laws are repealed in the Parliament. The numbers will double here in the coming days,” he said.
While a festive mood dominated the year-old site, the farmers refused to wrap up and go back home. Jasbir Kaur, 75, from a village in Punjab’s Malerkotla, who reached Singhu border on 5 January this year, said, “This is only half the battle won. This was just an announcement by the PM, we want to see the paperwork. We will not leave till it’s legally repealed. PM had also announced he will give Rs 15 lakh to everyone but no one received a rupee. Why should we trust just an announcement?”
A similar sentiment was echoed by farmer Paramjit Singh, who hailed from a village in Punjab’s Moga. “We have no plans of leaving the Singhu border, we are here till it’s repealed in the Parliament. My phone hasn’t stopped ringing since morning. Relatives, friends and neighbours from across Punjab are calling… Many are on their way to the Singhu border now,” said Singh, as he peeled potatoes. He’s doing seva at a langar, and the menu on Friday included 50 kg laddoo, a vessel of halwa, aloo gobhi, dal, and chapati.
Singh, and several other farmers at the protest site, said that the “the announcement by PM Modi about repealing the three farm laws only happened due to the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh early next year.”
Sandeep Kaur, 40, from a village in Punjab’s Mohali, said, “Does the PM think we can’t see why this repeal has happened so close to the UP elections? He doesn’t have the best interest of the farmers in mind, he only wants to win.”
SHADOW OF DEATH
Between tight hugs and long phone calls with families back home in Punjab, the shadow of the 650-plus tragic deaths of protesters in the last year loomed large. “The PM may have announced that he will repeal these laws but that doesn’t mean the dead will be alive again. Modi didn’t say a word about those we have lost in the last one year. While, I am happy the year-long struggle yielded results, the sense of loss is overwhelming,” said Gurjinder Singh, a farmer from a village in Punjab’s Jangpura.
Farmers’ union Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) released a statement that “on this occasion, SKM pays its humble homage to around 675 farmers who have been martyred in this agitation so far… Their sacrifice will not go in vain.”
As the winter sun set, the crowds swelled at the Singhu border, and the loudspeakers got louder. Bapu Nichhattar Singh, 85, who has been giving massages to tired and sick protesters for a year now, danced with joy every time he heard a song blaring out of any of the neighbouring speakers.
A family handed over their baby to him for a photo, a member of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) gave him a hug, and a young man did bhangra with him. “I haven’t been able to speak to my wife and children in Punjab yet because I am surrounded by my Singhu family. Look at the love here but don’t be fooled. We are not leaving till Modi hands us the paperwork guaranteeing the laws will be repealed,” he said, as he continued to match Bhangra steps.
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