New delhi: As farmers continue to pour in at the Capital's border, most of them in large convoys of tractors and trucks, 65-year-old Dilbagh Singh stands in front of one of the many langar services at the Singhu border protest site. Many farmers around the areas were stepping up to him as he stood there with his bicycle, which had a board with a notice on it.
Singh is a landless labourer and works the fields owned by farmers who are much better off than him. He had cycled to the protest site for three days over a distance of 470 kilometres from his village in Tarntaran, Punjab just to make a point that the three contentious farm laws will also affect his earning. He said that the laws spell out how corporatisation would harm his livelihood.
Singh told Millennium Post that he earns Rs 300 to Rs 400 per day by working the fields. "I have traveled here in solidarity with the farmers. The laws will equally affect us as well. The corporate basically will add its layer of amount on my income, which is low."
"I took few breaks and kept cycling to reach the protest," he added. Singh has been living at the protest for ten days now.
He said that his family's support allows him to continue the protest and added that he would not return until the laws are taken back.
"We have left our families for this protest and we will stay here till the time bills are not taken back," a fragile-looking Singh said.
Interestingly, many farmers are choosing to ride their bicycles to protests.
Singh was upset that the mainstream media was portraying the protests in a negative light. "I have the strength to cycle towards Delhi as well," he added as another farmer told him, "We are brothers and we are in this together."
Dalit farmers have also joined in the protest but their numbers are comparatively lower.