Chhavi Bhatia
Karnal— It is 2 in the morning and Mahendra Kapoor blares Mere Desh Ki Dharti Sona Ugle from a loudspeaker close by, piercing through the dead of the night of the town that otherwise goes to sleep by 10. Outside the mini-secretariat where thousands of farmers have dug in their heels since September 7, however, the flurry of activity doesn’t show any sign of abating. After three rounds of talk between farmers and the Haryana government failed on Tuesday, around two lakh farmers marched towards the DC office to gherao it indefinitely. The farmers are demanding suspension of IAS officer Ayush Sinha who was caught on camera giving orders to “break heads of farmers” during the August 28 protest. A farmer reportedly died due to injuries sustained in the lathicharge by cops.
Kisani flags fly high on light poles along with tricolour—countering the slander that farmers are “anti-national”. Young and old are sitting on durries as a large number of cops keep a watchful eye on them. While some try to catch a few winks, a lot of them are discussing the events of the day and the strategy ahead. Few taus are playing cards while gurgling on hookahs.
Keeping their energy levels high are endless rounds of tea being served by Khalsa Aid volunteers, who make an announcement every half an hour that tea and biscuits langar is on. Ration has started to come in from locals and people from Chandigarh and Mohali after word spread on social media that agitation here will go on indefinitely. “We were prepared that the egoistic Khattar government won’t agree to sack that officer and we won’t be left with much choice but to camp here. So we started to mobilise food and water from morning itself. A lot of help has started to arrive from nearby cities too,” said Ajay Pal Singh, a farmer from Charkhi Dadri.
Earlier in the day, farmers had broken barricades set up by the district police to prevent them from reaching the district administration complex. A few hours later, the protesting farmers had converted those barricades into beds, telling sign of their ingenuity; some are sleeping outside shops opposite the mini-secretariat that were shut in the morning ahead of the On one of the pavements, a young man is fanning someone sleeping under a tree at a furious pace. A group of farmers, on the other hand, have huddled around the person who turns out to be Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait. On the other end of the protest, BKU(Charuni) chief Gurnam Singh Charuni is sleeping. Supporters of both the leaders gush about them for being with them since morning. “They are sleeping on the road when they could have easily slept at someone’s house. Media won’t show this or write about it because it only wants to portray us in bad light,” Sandeep Singh, a farmer from Hisar lashes out at government-friendly media. Meanwhile, a few cops ask for bottles of water from farmers, refusing offer to have tea.
By crack of the dawn, the loudspeaker is turned off and people assemble to do paath. Word is doing the round that pukka morcha is to be set up as the government is in “no mood to relent”. The hymns soothe the atmosphere and frayed nerves. Preparations are on for morning tea and breakfast. Farmers who had slept at local gurudwaras start arriving at the protest site. Tikait and Charuni address the farmers for next days ahead, exhorting them to brace up for a long fight. “Khattar is an arrogant man. He will do anything to protect that rogue officer. We will not budge from here till Sinha is suspended and booked for murder,” thunders Tikait.
