FARMERS PROTEST: CHANGING THE FACE OF PUNJABI PARADIGM AROUND THE WORLD

FARM PROTESTS: THE MOST PEACEFUL PROTEST EVER

A lot has been said and written about the farmers protest taking place in India, but still it’s not enough. It never will be because it is deemed to be the biggest protest in the history of humans and also the most peaceful. Yes, you heard it right- the most peaceful too. These are two contradictory things but the farmers have made it possible in their own might and set a popular peasants’ paradigm which will be etched in history and followed around the world.

I’m no one to comment on minimum support price (MSP), neither am I  an authority on economics nor a political commentator but as a human it gives me jitters  and raises my hair when I see the innocent old beating the severe  cold along with the dreadful corona to save their lands and livelihood. As a wife of a farmer and a daughter of the soil I too have a voice and I need to bring forth that we are much more than our flamboyant lifestyles and flashy clothes.

The big question is why cannot the powerful people sitting in Delhi just a few miles away from Singhu border hear their cries? Why cannot they see the sea of people although the new surveillance cameras have been deployed to keep them abreast with the latest? 

Punjabis all around the world have come together in their support. Without even asking for any help they have been flooded with food not the bare minimum to survive but talk about nutrition- ghee, pinnis and almonds. The latest to join the bandwagon are the umpteen number of foot-massage machines along with footwear and woolens.

Do we even have words to acknowledge ‘tractor da langar’?

Where else in history did we hear of that?

Isn’t it time we acknowledge the heroism and the soul of Punjabiyat and not just make jokes about it?

The old and young are altogether in this, uniting everyone , transcending boundaries, sitting on the roads in thousands having left their homes, children and loved ones behind they are there for a common cause not only their own. The forces tearing their eyes with tear gas have been unsuccessful to tear through their perseverance. Nevertheless, they still are serving langar to them with the same spirit of service Guru Nanak had imparted them. . 

They too could have sat in the comfort of their homes but they place service of the society before their self.

So stop classifying as stupid, selfish, terrorists, shirkers, uneducated and mere drug-addicts!

Stop labeling us with all that comes to your mind!!!

The Punjabi people professed as ‘garam khoon’ have shown themselves as the most naram. Today, they have proven to be the most patient portraying commendable class of character as if beating Gandhi at his own game.

As, I drive past the farms on the highway, there are toll plazas that have been set free as the farmers are protesting there since months.  I slow down my car to pass by my brethren, my eyes get glued to those of a lonely old farmer standing amid his farm. I wonder what he is thinking. Is he brooding about his miseries and future or is he thinking about his brothers at the border representing his soul? A slight but confident smile on his furrowed face provides me the answer – ‘Abh Delhi Door Nahin!’

Mr. PM are you listening? 

(A proud daughter of the soil and a farmer’s wife)