Read this story in Punjabi on Trolley Times website
Our family had left Pakistan in 1947. We were well settled there, with enough land and property. Ever since we got uprooted from there, our families have not been able to ground themselves 100%. This is exactly the reason why I chose to come to this protest. It’s a matter of land grabbing again, hits me right in the heart and all the memories come flooding back again. We’ve lost everything once, we can't let that happen again. They want to leave absolutely nothing for us and our future generations. We are no longer farmers either. We are engaging in other businesses to make a living.
Secondly, during partition we were allotted land where not much grows even today. Since there weren’t many needs at that time, our elders didn’t pay attention. Even today our lands are barren. Somewhere our families’ roots have also been suppressed and we too have moved away from farming. Whenever there’s a matter of land grabbing, we get scared that whatever happened to us in 1947, might get repeated.
I wanted to come to the protest but I couldn’t figure out a way. I asked my friends and family, it was December by then. On 10th I decided to come to the protest. No one agreed to join me. So I left alone, boarded the train and got my bedding with me. I stayed for three days at the steps of Shree Ram Sharma metro station, after which a family from Buhe village gave me company. I stayed in their tent until about 5th January. After that I went back to my hometown, Ganganagar to celebrate Lohri. I too have been a BJP voter since 1984, because of the wrong policies or actions of the Congress in 1984.
My friends were also BJP supporters. We sat together on Lohri. Usually our conversations would be about the BJP's good deeds, praising Modi, but that day I kept interrupting them. This was because I had seen an evidence of BJPs dictatorship through my own eyes at the protest. An argument broke out with them. The debate escalated to a point where they started saying that me going to the protest won’t make any difference to the movement. My elders used to tell me a story about how once a fire broke out in a forest and a bird was trying to put it off by throwing water collected in its beak from the sea. Someone asked, "Foolish bird, what difference would you make to this wild fire by doing that?" The bird replied that there’s a judge sitting above. There's a line of people who add fuel to the fire, and a line of people who extinguish the fire. I know that I alone won’t be able to make any difference. But when the time comes, I know I’ll be standing in the line of those who extinguish fires.
I am the only person here from my neighbourhood. I came here remembering the story of that bird. I came here to serve and I do as much as I possibly can. I have all the responsibilities from back home on me, but I left everything and here I am. I have not been to the village for the last two months. There were fights back home with my wife and my child because of this. They kept asking me why wasn’t I coming back home. Finally I asked them to get there bedding and come here.
Now my whole family is here at the protest site. The people living here at the front are enduring a lot of hardships and yet they stay here trying to manage everything. There are flies and mosquitoes, cleanliness and hygiene issues, the troubles that come with the weather change, rains and storms. So looking at these things, it seems that the history we have been hearing about our community is absolutely true. Being alone here, I faced a lot of troubles at the front but I put everything aside and focus on serving the protest just like that bird.
Interview by - Gurdeep S Dhaliwal
Translated from Punjabi by - Suchetna Singh
Updates from the Protest
Source - Samyukt Kisan Morcha Press Note (214th Day, 28th June 2021)
Police of Chandigarh UT foisting false cases on SKM leaders and supporters - this is unacceptable and all such FIRs have to be withdrawn unconditionally - Similarly, cases in Hisar have to be withdrawn too
Reports indicate that BJP leaders keen on knowing the impact of the farmers' movement in Western UP and other places - It is clear that BJP goes by only vote politics rather than real welfare of citizens
Sunehra Kisan Maha Sammelan to uphold communal harmony and amity witnesses a huge turnout - Farmers want to prioritise their rights, their livelihoods, their own and country's future while BJP and allied political parties are keen on divisive, communal agendas: SKM
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