Chhavi Bhatia
New Delhi—The Indian diaspora has thrown its weight behind tens of thousands of farmers who are peacefully protesting on Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur and Noida border points near Delhi for the past nine days. From holding car rallies to protest marches, NRIs in Canada Australia and USA, including many Sikhs, are backing the farmers’ cause back home.
For the last few days since the sit-in started to grow in intensity here, the Sikh and Punjabi diaspora has taken it upon itself to drum up support with placards, posters and speeches. In Vancouver, Toronto, British Columbia, New York, different groups have organised car rallies and marches at different places in solidarity with the Indian farming community. The supporters have used slogans like ‘No Farmer, No Food’, ‘Farmers are fighting for their rights’, ‘Save Farmers Save Punjab’, ‘We stand with farmers’—all endorsing the farmers’ movement in India, on cars and holding placards as individuals.
“We want the farmers to know that they are not alone in this fight. We are because they are. While we cannot be there personally, we can raise their voice here in this way. Hailing from a farmer’s family myself, I have seen their hardships from close quarters. I know what they go through to put food in our plate,” Vancouver-based Punjabi singer Sandeep Brar told FW over phone. Brar and a group of his friends organised ‘Honk for farmers’ rally in Vancouver where tens of cars passed on busy roads, blaring horns as mark of solidarity for Indian farmers. “Instead of being thankful for his selfless service to the society, the government is putting farmers through so much pain. All of us are with the farmers in their struggle even sitting miles away,” said Manpreet Grewal who moved to Canada a decade ago.
New York also witnessed a large congregation of protesters, raising slogans in favour of the farmers outside the Indian embassy. Placards like ‘Farmers give us food’, ‘No farmer, no food, no future’ found their way in Sydney and Canberra too where India was playing ODI with home team, all indicating that the agitation has gone beyond Delhi borders.
In Winnipeg, youngsters who whiled away their weekends in socialising are earmarking Saturday and Sunday for farmer support rallies. Not only this, they have bigger plans of door to door campaign about farmers’ plight once the pandemic restrictions in the city are lifted. “We held a car rally earlier this week which saw small participation since it was very spontaneous. This weekend and in days to come, we will have more people joining as it is being planned thoroughly,” shares Parminder Singh Deol, an engineering student in Winnipeg. “We will also go door-to-door once the Covid red alert is over because we want people from every community and ethnicity to support farmers. It is overwhelming to see how the whole world has come together for farmer,” he adds.
Such is the impact of the peaceful protest by tens of thousands of farmers on Singhu-Tikri border that even kids are coming to their aid as well. Seven-year-old Surrey resident Armaan Aujla was part of a recently held car rally where he tried to boost farmers’ morale with posters like Kisan Ekta Zindabad. “I know farmers toil their sweat and blood so that we can eat. It is wrong to trouble them. I simply want them to know that we care,” says the young boy.
