Rail blockade by farmers resulted in severe shortage of essential items in Punjab (file)
Chandigarh:
Punjabi farmers, who were protesting against the Center’s new agricultural laws, found new allies – Punjabi singers.
Ranjit Bawa, a 31-year-old singer, joined the protest and is playing a key role in mobilizing youth. He says the singers have taken to the streets because it is a fight for their existence.
“We have taken to the streets because it threatens our existence. We win by playing in front of our people, and this law will affect us all.”
Perceived by many as those who glorify arms, violence and opulence, singers now speak of “constitution, federal structure and revolution”.
Actor Deep Sidhu, once a close associate of BJP MP Sunny Deol, said the protest was for Punjab.
“It’s not just a protest by farmers. It’s a protest for existence. There was an American revolutionary, Martin Luther King. We have to learn from him that how the protests are to be channeled. We also have to involve children, ”he told a demonstration in Batala.
Harjeshwar Pal Singh, professor of history at Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Chandigarh, said economic reasons forced the singers to join the protests.
The rail blockade by farmers has created a serious shortage of essential items in the Punjab.
Last week, the farmers met with union ministers Piyush Goyal and Narendra Singh Tomar and presented a long list of demands.
Besides the immediate withdrawal of farm laws, the farmers said the penalties for burning agricultural waste – linked to deeply unhealthy air pollution spikes in Delhi and the surrounding area – must be lifted and that farmers are jailed for it.
