‘Barricades can’t kill our spirit’

Protesting farmers are undeterred by the barricading of Delhi’s borders with concrete structures, barbed wire, spike strips and digging up of arterial roads along with shutting off the internet and water supply at the protest sites.

A cross-section of protestors and farmers’ leaders at Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur borders, said they are equally resolved not to let such action kill the spirit of the movement.

‘Protest undeterred’

Balkaran Singh Brar of the All India Kisan Sabha told BusinessLine, “They started with calling us Khalistanis, anti-nationals, tried to get the Supreme Court involved in clearing us out. Then came the January 26 incident in which, their own people...this actor Deep Singh Sidhu who has been photographed with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hoisted our religious flag at the Red Fort to make it seem like we were desecrating a national monument and the Flag. They tried to clear the Ghazipur site with excessive police force, cutting off power supply. Then came the so-called ‘locals’ at Singhu who marched into the protest site, trying to provoke us. But nothing worked. The numbers have been swelling. Now they have started this barricading drama. They got JCB machines to dig up roads. We will not be moved by this.”

‘Alienating our own’

Pavel Kussa of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) at the Tikri Border said shutting off the internet, water supply may inconvenience the protestors but a major psychological dimension of the move to barricade protest sites is to alienate the local population around the protest sites. “We can arrange for water and power but should also focus on not to let te fear and alienation overwhelm the local population. The psychological effect of a large number of people barricaded and isolated from the local people by barbed wires can be damaging because it creates suspicion and fear. The locals have been eating and drinking with us so far but the moment you create divisions physically, it can lead to suspicion. We have been talking to the people around us, they are one of us. So far, this feeling has not crept in. But we have to understand what the Government is doing and act accordingly,” said Pavel.

Parminder Singh, a young protestor from Ghuman Kalan village in Gurdaspur district of Punjab, was scornful of the “torture” inflicted on the farmers. “They cannot guard India’s borders properly but are barricading Delhi from Indians. What are we, some invaders from outside? What have we done to deserve this treatment,” Singh asked.

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