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Many skip celebrations to join farmers in protest to ring in the New Year
On December 26, farmers had invited residents of Delhi-NCR to join them to welcome the New Year.
A year ago, Gurninder Singh, 33, a farmer from Patiala, had spent his New Year’s eve in Shimla on a vacation with friends and family. This time around, Singh has come to Delhi’s Singhu border with his cousins to participate in the protest by farmers against the three new farm laws.
“What is happening here is more important than being with our family or friends as a new year begins. The three farm laws are a direct attack on our livelihood and we have to fight for it,” he said as his cousin Yash Deep, 23, nodded in agreement.
“Most of the youngsters in our village either go on a vacation or spend time with family and friends on New Year’s eve. This time, so many of them have opted to be here instead,” he said.
Singh and his cousins are among the thousands of farmers who chose to remain camped at the capital’s four borders on Thursday to demand a repeal of the three farm laws passed by the Centre even as minimum temperatures dipped to 3.3 degree Celsius on Thursday morning-- the lowest this season.
Read more| Farmers to welcome New Year at Singhu as protest continues | 10 points
Kuldeep Kaur, 54, who owns a boutique in Mohali, is among the protesters who have chosen to begin their new year by doing ‘seva’ at the protest site. “When we came here a few weeks ago, we realized the farmers needed help with fixing their torn clothes or other cloth items. This is why I came here with two of my employees to help them. Back home, we would have engaged in ‘ardas’ or prayers to welcome the new year. We will do the same here,” she said.
On December 26, farmers had invited residents of Delhi-NCR to join them to welcome the New Year.
From stitching clothes to preparing langars of kheer, halwa, jalebi, pizza, and kadhi chawal, hundreds of protesters at Singhu continued with their agitation like any other day on Thursday.
Mohan Singh, 63, a school principal from Mohali, said, “We don’t want to celebrate the new year till the farm laws are repealed because more than 40 farmer brothers have died during this agitation. While every year, we welcomed the new year in celebration, this year will be marked by their remembrance.” Protesters also engaged in a plantation drive and planted 10 saplings on the road divider at the Singhu border.
“People here should remember this once in a lifetime agitation and that is why we planted saplings to mark the beginning of the new year,” said Bhavjeet Singh, an IT professional who started the Tractor2Twitter campaign supporting the farmers’ agitation.
Read more| ‘Won’t withdraw protest’: Farmers stick to resolve as talks yield little progress
Not just farmers but people from several parts of Delhi joined the demonstration on Thursday including students from Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi University, and JNU.
“Last year, we had welcomed the new year at our university during the anti-CAA protests with songs of resistance and revolution. We felt it was important to lend the same support to the farmers movement as they too have been fighting against state oppression,” said Huzaifa Khan, who recently graduated from Jamia and was present during the anti-CAA agitation last year.
