Murder convict to farmer protests leader: How people power propels Manjit Singh Dhaner
The Punjabi farmer-activist was twice pardoned under public pressure.
11 Jan, 2021
Not long ago, farmer-activist Manjit Singh Dhaner, 64, was sentenced to life imprisonment in a murder case. Today, he is a free man, leading the farmer protests from pillar 805 at Tikri on Delhiâs border.
Dhaner, senior vice president of the farmer association Bharti Kisan Union Ekta Dakaunda, was twice pardoned in spite of the Supreme Court upholding his sentence.
For 47 days starting in September 2019, over 3,000 people sat outside the Barnala jail, where Dhaner was lodged, during the day, and about 500 of them slept in tents at night. They were served langar, rain or shine. The protest, mobilised by 42 farmer unions under the umbrella of Sangharsh Committee for Manjit Dhaner, forced Punjabâs government to accede to their demand to pardon the leader, not once but twice.