As Support for Farmers Agitation Swells, Is the State Crackdown Backfiring?
The way that Rakesh Tikait â who had been on board with BJP politics over the last few years â has found support may worry the government.
Bharatiya Kisan Union spokesperson Rakesh Tikait speaks to media representatives as RLD leader Jayant Choudhary (L) looks on during farmers ongoing protest against the new farm laws, at Ghazipur Border in New Delhi, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. Photo: PTI
Rights29/Jan/2021
New Delhi: Quite contrary to what many had anticipated, the state crackdown on farmers’ leaders has breathed a new life into the agitation. Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikaitâs emotional outburst against the Union governmentâs attempts to remove protestors from the Ghazipur sit-in has become a rallying point for a large section of farmers from western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and eastern Rajasthan.
Farmer protests intensify after Rakesh Tikait breaks down in tears at Ghazipur
This comes days after the farmer protests were maligned post-Republic Day violence
By Bhavya Singh| Edited by Sruthi Vibhavari | Updated: 29th January 2021 3:50 pm IST Rakesh Tikait even announced a hunger strike and declared that he was ‘ready to face bullets or kill himself’.
Ghazipur: Hundreds of farmers arrived at the Ghazipur protesting site after Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Spokesperson Rakesh Tikait on Thursday broke down in tears, declaring that he was ready to “face bullets or kill himself”.
This comes days after the farmer protests were maligned post-Republic Day violence, and on Friday, hundreds of supporters arrived in support at Ghazipur, flouting direct orders by the police to clear the protest site.
Quieter but still present: Landless labourers say have much to lose
A resident of Fazilka district, Dev Singh s life trajectory, in many ways, mirrors the plight of Punjab s landless labourers, managing to eke out a living wholly dependent on those owning tracts of land. Updated: December 24, 2020 7:47:30 am
Dalit Farmers seeking advice. (Express Photo)
His kurta a little crumpled, chappals worn out, eyes sunken and voice diffident, Dev Singh is not quite like the archetypal Punjabi farmer feisty and boisterous.
A Mazhabi Sikh, categorised as Dalits, Dev Singh represents the large community of landless agricultural labourers at the capital’s doorstep, eager to make a point against the three farm laws by their quiet presence.
Bound for their homes, Tablighis talk of waiting children, fight for justice At the Narela temporary detention facility, they locked us from outside, while providing what we needed, like food, medicines. At another place, we were kept in rooms that turned into furnaces during the summer, but at least we could move around. Updated: December 20, 2020 7:54:34 am
The Tablighi members were booked for allegedly flouting Covid norms. Archive
On the surface, the Tablighi Jamaat members appear content looking forward to going home and meeting their loved ones. But a gentle prodding brings forth the anguish, of spending nearly a year in a foreign land, while facing public vilification, accusations of spreading a pandemic, and a long court trial, before finally being exonerated.
Gurdwaras to volunteer groups to NGOs: Who’s feeding protesters at the borders
From farmers of a particular village cooking by their tractor-trolleys to feed themselves and share with the public, to large-scale langars sewa through feeding runs throughout the protests. Updated: December 20, 2020 8:00:06 am
Langars at Singhu; farmers can be seen cooking by their tractor-trolleys to feed themselves and share with the public while several large-scale langars have
also come up.(Abhinav Saha)
Along the several-kilometres-long stretches of tractors and protesters at Singhu and Tikri, the site of food being prepared and served is ubiquitous. From farmers of a particular village cooking by their tractor-trolleys to feed themselves and share with the public, to large-scale langars sewa through feeding runs throughout the protests. And some of the largest langars give an idea of the organisations involved.