Protesting farmers hold ground, to mark Shahidi Divas amid biting cold

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday that Delhi recorded the coldest morning as the temperature dipped to 3.4 degrees Celsius, the season’s lowest.

Farmers protesting against the three farm laws are on Sunday observing Shahidi Divas or Martyrs’ Day as a tribute to those who died during the agitation even as a biting cold gripped areas in and around Delhi. The farmers are steadfast in their demands and want the ‘black laws’ to be repealed even as the protests entered Day 24.

Demonstrators raising slogans at Singhu border (Delhi-Haryana) during the ongoing protest against new farm laws, in New Delhi, India, on Saturday, December 19, 2020. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

“We will observe Shahidi Divas today and pay tribute to those who lost their lives during this movement,” Mange Ram Tyagi, the chief secretary of Bhartiya Kisan Union’s Delhi-NCR  unit was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday that Delhi recorded the coldest morning as the temperature dipped to 3.4 degrees Celsius, the season’s lowest.

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Several medical personnel from Punjab have also joined in to help the farmers protesting at Singhu border near Delhi. “We are here to support the agitating farmers. We all are ready to serve if anyone falls ill,” Harshdeep Kaur, a nurse at a hospital in Ludhiana, was quoted by ANI as saying.

After several rounds of talks between the agitating farmers and the government, the deadlock has continued. The protests against Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020, passed by Parliament in September has entered Day 24 and farmers claim the protests will even continue for months if their demands are not met.