Sangrur, September 9
Despite facing crop damage and huge debts, many families of farmers are continuing to support the ongoing agitation against the central farm laws. In Sangrur, there are families, whose members are equally participating in local protests at Moonak for crop loss compensation and also at Delhi borders.
“I had to sow paddy twice. Hit by power scarcity and rainwater flooding, I had to plough the fields. I have been under huge debt but, crop failure and debts are no excuse for me and my family to stay away from the protests,” said Bakhshish Singh of Rampura Gujran village, who had stayed at New Delhi protest for five months.
Demanding the release of financial aid for crop failure due to rainwater, farmers of many villages have been staging a protest before the Moonak SDM’s office for the past 13 days.
“Both the protests, at Moonak and New Delhi, are for different demands. Many farmers are even taking more debt to contribute to the protests,” said Tek Singh, another farmer from Moonak.
A Sangrur farmer, Surjan Singh, said more protests would be launched in the coming days against the politicians coming to their villages, as all parties had failed to come up as per their expectations.
“After I returned from Delhi, my son joined the protest in my place. Though we are already under debt, we still are contributing to keep both the protests — in Delhi and Sangrur — on for better future of our generations,” he said.
Some farmers said they were preparing for a bigger fight at village levels. Special committees were being formed to prevent the entry of politicians of all parties while in other places, farmers had already made WhatsApp groups to mobilise support against politicians.
“No doubt, NRIs, NGOs and religious organisations are helping us, but our protests are not totally financed by them. In fact, farmers themselves are spending lakhs to keep the protests alive,” said Gurmukh Singh, an elderly farmer. — TNS
Crop loss, mounting debt fail to dampen protesters’ spirit
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