Farmers plan cycle march from Kanyakumari to J&K

While farmer leaders are taking up panchayats and rallies in different states to garner support for their protest against the Centre’s farm laws, a group of youngsters are cycling to different protest sites at the Delhi border to rope in volunteers for a “cycle march” from Kanyakumari to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)

While farmer leaders are taking up panchayats and rallies in different states to garner support for their protest against the Centre’s farm laws, a group of youngsters are cycling to different protest sites at the Delhi border to rope in volunteers for a “cycle march” from Kanyakumari to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

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They said they already had about 60-70 volunteers for the march to spread awareness on the laws and the protest to interior parts of the country.

“There is a lot of understanding among the farmers across the country, but they need to know more. Marching on is not be feasible and with high fuel cost these days, even vehicles are not practical. So, we decided to for bicycles,” said Vikas Chaudhary, a farmer from Shamli in Uttar Pradesh who conceived the idea. He said the volunteers included students, retired servicemen and even the elderly, all with an agriculture background

He said the group begin their march from Kanyakumari on March 12 and the journey to cover over 3500 km is likely to take them six months. Their teams are in the process of arrangements at different villages and also speaking to social and religious organisations for arranging of meetings with farmers.

“We have people aged 17 years to 85 years who have joined us. We met during the protest at different borders. For instance, we have 70-year-old man who travelled from his hometown in Ludhiana to Singhu border on his bicycle. He is one of the senior most members of our group now,” said Chaudhary.

“We know it will be difficult, but we are willing to do it for the cause. Our farmers are in the third month of their protest while braving cold and now they will have to face scorching summers ahead,” said Akshay Chaudhary, a 22-year-old from Kaithal in Haryana who is pursuing his graduation in Yoga studies in Delhi.

The group of cyclists visited the UP Gate protest site on Friday and also met farmer leaders of the farmers’ committee at the UP Gate.

“Their proposal will be put forward before the Samyukt Kisan Morcha committee. Once the discussions take place about the ‘cycle rally,’ our committee will extend all possible help for them,” said Jagtar Singh Bajwa, member of the UP Gate farmers’ committee.