Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal said that the battle I am fighting is not the one I am fighting. This is just a body seen fighting a battle. This is happening as per the wish of God.
The flood of farmers gathered at the Kisan Mahapanchayat on the Khanauri border of Punjab has written a new date in the history of the farmers movement. It seemed as if the entire Punjab came out on the call of farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who had not consumed a single grain of food for 40 days. The rally of farmers on every road going towards Khanauri border was confirming that it is still time for the Central Government to wake up. The central government is inviting some untoward incident. There was only one question on the lips of every farmer that we are not asking for the Sultanate of Delhi. They are demanding only minimum support price for their crops. Then what is the problem with Modi government in talking to us?
The Khanauri border of Haryana-Punjab was waking up the country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had taken out time to meet Punjab’s famous singer Diljit Dosanjh and sing songs on January 4. No one has ever seen such a flood of farmers here. A new history was created on the Khanauri border on the 40th day of the fast unto death of farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal. The queues and traffic jam of farmers’ vehicles about 50 kilometers from Khanauri was telling something. Children, youth, women and elderly people were moving towards Khanauri border on tractors, motorcycles, trucks, buses, cars and Jugaad vehicles. Someone had a can of milk in his hand and someone had a can filled with sugarcane juice in his hand. All the vehicles were loaded with vegetables for langar. This was showing people’s emotions towards the farmers’ movement. Everyone was going with the desire to participate in this movement in their own way.
A crowd of thousands of people had gathered. The highway was jammed for 7 kilometers before Khanauri border. The situation was such that people left their vehicles on the highway to reach the main pandal. Despite this, a large number of people could not reach there. Emotions were stirring everywhere. Before Khanauri border, the hotels located along the highway had also opened langar. There were langars of tea and food at every ten steps, where people were standing with folded hands requesting to take Prasad. It is very important to write this to understand the sentiments of the people and the emotions of Punjab related to this farmers movement that has been going on for almost 11 months. That too in a situation when these pictures are missing from the mainstream media of the country.
The deteriorating condition of farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who has been on death row for 40 days at the Khanauri border with the main demand of legal guarantee of minimum support price for crops and complete debt relief of farmers, is taking the emotions of farmers to their peak. Despite the crowd of thousands at the time of Dallewal’s address, the silence that prevailed was confirming this fact. Along with Shambhu Border, the farmers who were agitating on Khanauri Border since 13th February were asking what problem does the Central Government have with us. Especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi. By stopping us from going to Delhi, our democratic right to express our views was also crushed. Sarwan Singh Pandher, head of Kisan-Laborer Morcha, who is leading the movement at Shambhu border, said that this Mahapanchayat is going to shake the central government. Modi government is arrogant. The intoxication of power is at its peak among them. Midi ji is no more than the 140 crore people of the country and 3 crore people of Punjab. They will have to accept our demands for legal guarantee of MSP and debt relief for farmers. We will either be martyred here or will win the fight for our rights. Farmer leader Kaka Singh Kotla said that history has been created today at Khanauri border. When we came back from Delhi after winning the fight against the 3 agricultural laws, it was said that the elephant has gone, only its tail is left, but now it is understood that the elephant is gone and only its tail is left.
Finally it was the turn of Jagjit Singh Dallewal, whom the farmers were desperate to listen to. Dallewal, who was on a fast unto death for 40 days and was reduced to just a skeleton, was brought on a stretcher to the stage. Dallewal started his address by saying Ram-Ram. Despite becoming extremely weak, his voice was full of courage and passion. As soon as he started speaking, there was complete silence despite the crowd of thousands. Dallewal said that the battle I am fighting is not the one I am fighting. This is just a body seen fighting a battle. This is happening as per the wish of God. The police tried to take me away from here. When people came to know, hundreds of youth from Punjab-Haryana reached us and took charge. The police come only at night to pick us up. Those who have reached the front today, it is only by the grace of God. The government may exert as much force as it wants, we will continue to win the front. The government says that the farmers do not understand. It’s not like that. We have read everything. We all understand. It is necessary to curb the incidents of suicide by farmers. A report has been presented in the Supreme Court that about 4 lakh farmers have committed suicide, but in actual figures, more than 7 lakh farmers have died so far. Their children are suffering. Nothing was done to ensure that farmers do not commit suicide in future.
Dallewal said that the Supreme Court has expressed concern about my health. The Supreme Court has said that Dallewal’s life is very precious. I express my gratitude on this, but what was the fault of the farmers who committed suicide? I said that the lives of 7 lakh farmers who died were also precious. Farmer suicides should stop. In between, he asked for water when his throat became dry. On the advice of doctors that blood pressure may increase if we talk too much, we said that nothing will happen to us. Dallewal said that when we returned from Delhi, leaders of other states had said that Punjab returned after getting three laws withdrawn. Then we replied that we did not cheat anyone. I request all the organizations with folded hands that you all come together and create concern for the government. This will let the government know that this movement is not just of Punjab, but of the entire country. Dallewal appealed to the people that at least one tractor trolley from every village should participate in the movement. This will give strength to the front.
The Kisan Mahapanchayat once again rejected the Central Government’s claim that these are just a handful of farmers. The sentiments of the farmers have also given a message to the government to wake up in time. If the central government still does not wake up, it will be fully responsible for any untoward incident. The participation of farmers from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu also indicated that this farmer movement can take a bigger form at any time.
