CHANDIGARH: From seeing their fathers in debt to just not getting enough for their produce, educated young men from the farming families of Punjab, who camp on the heavily fortified Shambhu border between Punjab and Haryana, have several reasons for braving explosive teargas cannisters and rubber bullets fired by Haryana Police.
Gurpinder Singh (26), who hails from a village in Hoshiarpur, reached Shambhu on February 13 and he volunteers on the front every day.“I am a BA graduate. Many of my friends have gone to Canada, but I have decided to stay back because our parents fought for these lands,” he says. Gurpinder was not planning to join the protest until BKU (Doaba) backed the Delhi Chalo call of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha and Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Politi- cal). His father owns a 5-acre farmland and he paid off all his debt last year, but the family still earns just about Rs 4.5 lakh a year. “It is not enough for a family of four,” he says.
A volunteer posted next to a bridge where Haryana Police have set up their defences, Jasman Singh (22), comes from Bathinda and studies theatre in Panjab University. Asked why he’s at the protest, Jasman, who doesn’t belong to a farming family, says it is the reassurance of knowing he stood by his brothers from Punjab. “These demands we are making, which also includes the withdrawal of Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022, will affect everyone,” he says.
Manjit Singh and Manjinder Singh hail from villages near Ghanaur, which is 10 km from the Shambhu border. “Maybe we don’t look Khalistani enough because we are not wearing turbans,” laughs Manjit. Both are pursuing BA at Punjabi University in Patiala and have been coming to the Shambhu since Nov 12 night. “We started coming the day we came to know of Haryana Police’s blocking this road,” adds Manjinder. Jasjeet Singh and Sukhjinder Singh have come from Noormahal village in Ludhiana. Sukhjinder’s father is a marginal farmer who has toiled most of his life and still lives in debt.
“I have not been able to get a govt job and have been helping my father on the farm,” says Sukhjinder Singh (21), who has studied up to Class XII. “I could not study further as we did not have enough money.”Jasjeet (22), a BA graduate, says no one from his family is participating in the protest, but he came here as he feels it is unjustified to stop the farmers from proceeding to Delhi. “Everyone has the right to be heard,” he adds. “We are not terrorists, we are citizens of this country.”
Gurpinder Singh (26), who hails from a village in Hoshiarpur, reached Shambhu on February 13 and he volunteers on the front every day.“I am a BA graduate. Many of my friends have gone to Canada, but I have decided to stay back because our parents fought for these lands,” he says. Gurpinder was not planning to join the protest until BKU (Doaba) backed the Delhi Chalo call of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha and Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Politi- cal). His father owns a 5-acre farmland and he paid off all his debt last year, but the family still earns just about Rs 4.5 lakh a year. “It is not enough for a family of four,” he says.
A volunteer posted next to a bridge where Haryana Police have set up their defences, Jasman Singh (22), comes from Bathinda and studies theatre in Panjab University. Asked why he’s at the protest, Jasman, who doesn’t belong to a farming family, says it is the reassurance of knowing he stood by his brothers from Punjab. “These demands we are making, which also includes the withdrawal of Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022, will affect everyone,” he says.
Manjit Singh and Manjinder Singh hail from villages near Ghanaur, which is 10 km from the Shambhu border. “Maybe we don’t look Khalistani enough because we are not wearing turbans,” laughs Manjit. Both are pursuing BA at Punjabi University in Patiala and have been coming to the Shambhu since Nov 12 night. “We started coming the day we came to know of Haryana Police’s blocking this road,” adds Manjinder. Jasjeet Singh and Sukhjinder Singh have come from Noormahal village in Ludhiana. Sukhjinder’s father is a marginal farmer who has toiled most of his life and still lives in debt.
“I have not been able to get a govt job and have been helping my father on the farm,” says Sukhjinder Singh (21), who has studied up to Class XII. “I could not study further as we did not have enough money.”Jasjeet (22), a BA graduate, says no one from his family is participating in the protest, but he came here as he feels it is unjustified to stop the farmers from proceeding to Delhi. “Everyone has the right to be heard,” he adds. “We are not terrorists, we are citizens of this country.”