She would have gone to sit at Delhi’s borders, says Jasbir, but she will let the protesters gathered there speak for her, “they are sitting there in the cold for all of us, not just for themselves”.
She is held back by her circumstances. Her husband is unable to speak or hear, and after the death of her father-in-law and brother-in-law, she is the provider for her family of six which includes her mother-in-law and three school-going children.
“The farm laws are Modi’s mann ki baat, not ours”, says Jasbir. “Bigger private players will give us good prices for the first one or two years, and then … If Modi is worried about me, he should give more jobs here first.”
Chorus on ground: Dhakka from Delhi won’t work, protest now has life of its own
The Indian Express found in a week-long journey through villages and cities across Punjab’s three regions that the image of the un-seeing Centre is compounded by the spate of name-calling. Written by Vandita Mishra | Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Ludhiana | Updated: December 23, 2020 3:13:02 pm
“Nobody is a leader in these protests, everyone has minus-ed themselves and the farmer has taken centrestage.” (Express)
There must have been a moment, a point in the ongoing agitation led by Punjab farmers, when a line was crossed. When men and women began talking less about the three Central farm laws that sparked small dharnas at petrol pumps and toll plazas across the state and more about those who started travelling to Delhi’s doorstep to huddle together in the cold.
Six buses ferrying protesters left from Sangrur, 3 from Bathinda, 2 each bus from Barnala, Ludhiana and Mansa, while 1 each left from Patiala and Moga.
Apart from this, over 10 trolleys left for Tikri border Tuesday, informed Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan, general secretary of BKU (Ugrahan). The initiative is a result of an appeal by the Ugrahan group to families to highlight their stories of farm suicides at the Delhi protest site.
Charanjeet Kaur, from Bhucho Khurd area of Bathinda, has gone to Delhi with a framed picture of her husband, Manjeet Singh, who committed suicide in 2018. Vikkar Singh of Barnala, who left in a tractor trolley, had seen his son, Gurmeet Singh, committed suicide in December 2007.