Crowds thicken at Ghazipur border; led by women farmers

New Delhi: As crowds kept thickening at the Ghazipur border protest sites where farmers are continuing their agitation against the Centre's three farm laws, despite excessive road blockades, intermittent Internet suspension, more tents were being added for protesters who continue to arrive in the hundreds.

Meanwhile, speaking on the Internet disruptions at the border protest sites, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait said that the farmers' fight is a "revolution and not a WhatsApp game". He went on to assert that the agitation remains strong and that their fight is so that farmers can get the right price for their crops.

And as the protest site keeps swelling, women are increasingly providing much-needed strength to the movement by simply showing up in solidarity.

Ram Kumari (80) is from Uttar Pradesh's Muradnagar. A farmer for almost half her life, she said that if need be they will die here. Kumari said that she drove the tractor herself to reach the protest site a few days back. "I have been coming to the protest every day but due to my health had come back. If I had the strength, I won't move from here. We are farmers and we grow the grains ourselves. Our sweat and life go into it. Has this Modi even done farming? Does he know how much hard work goes into it?" she asked.

Kumari said that women have the strength that no one can imagine having. "If our men get tired, we women will sit here relentless but won't go back before the bill is taken back. People do not even know the rates at which we sell grains. Who are they to tell us what is good for us and what is not," she added.

Rupinder Kaur, also from Uttar Pradesh, had come to join the protest five days back along with her family. "My whole family is into farming," she said. The 65-year-old said that she is unwell but has still come to protest for the

cause.

Meanwhile, people from nearby villages kept joining in increasing numbers. The protest site also saw unique aspects such as a cowshed at the protest site. "These cows were brought from Aligarh in tractors. When we are suffering so much and our work is suffering, we want to show how our animals are also going through the pain," a farmer said.

On the other hand, a two-minute silence was also observed for Navreet Singh, the 25-year-old farmer from Uttar Pradesh who died after his tractor overturned during the Republic Day violence. Protesters also held a candlelight vigil in his memory even as his family claimed that he was allegedly shot before his tractor overturned.

Interestingly, Singh's post mortem report showed that he had suffered wounds that many experts said is likely to have been caused by a bullet, according to many reports. The Delhi Police have strongly and vehemently denied that Singh was shot and said that his death was a result of his tractor overturning because of rash

driving. (With Agency inputs)