Families of deceased farm protesters pitch in

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, September 27

Despite losing their near and dear ones in the ongonig agitation, protesters have never let their grief come in the way of the fight against the central agricultural laws.

“Despite the death of my father during the stir, our family has not missed out on participation even for a day. Earlier I was at New Delhi border, now I protesting in Sangrur regularly,” said Kulwinder Singh (35), raising slogan against the central government at Barnala chowk.

Another farmer, Jasvir Singh (42), said the biting cold in last December created health complications for his father, but he refused to reutrn and died there.

“Many said my father died of old-age health complications, but he preferred to die at the Delhi border rather than coming back. Our family has pledged to attend protests daily until the farm laws are repealed” he said.

There are many families, which have several members attending protests on rotation at New Delhi and Sangrur. There are some families which are left with just one member after the death of their near and dear ones, but they are still in high spirit.

“Whenever I visit the Delhi protest site, my 17-year-old son takes care of household chores with the help of our neighbours. The indefinite protest has further strengthened the bonding among farmers as there are many families which are doing all household chores with the help of their neighbours,” said Darshan Singh, whose father died in March, two days after coming from New Delhi.

Baljit Kaur, whose 48-year-old husband died in January, said his family would not relent until their demands were met.