“It is not only about farmers. It is about the food security of India.”
New Delhi:
Even as thousands of farmers from states around Delhi look to converge on the national capital – or choke it – in protest against the Centre’s contentious new farm laws, they are being supported by a variety of people and groups in practical ways. One such set of people from Jhajjhar, a khap collective, has been providing free provisions for the agitators’ sustenance.
While most protesters have come well-prepared – some claiming to have food provisions that will last up to six months – it is likely that at some point they will need some replenishments. Interestingly, trucks from Jhajjhar’s khap collective – a grouping of 27 khaps – have already been running supplies.
This, they say, is their sewa or service to their protesting “brothers”.
One such group today was carrying wheat flour towards the Delhi border when NDTV caught up with them around 6-7 kilometres from the Tikri border point between Haryana and Delhi. While one side of the road, leading to Delhi, was open, the other was completely blocked by trucks and tractors from Punjab and Haryana. The protesting farmers have been camped on this road for the past seven days.
“We are from Jhajjhar. We are here in support of our protesting brothers. Our khap has set up a 24-hour bhandar (storehouse). We are carrying supplies to the (Delhi-Haryana) border,” an elderly man on the wheat flour-laden truck told NDTV.
“Whatever we can do physically and mentally, we shall do for our brothers. And till a decision is taken, we shall stand with them shoulder-to-shoulder. We shall move ahead with them,” he said.
A younger man belonging to the same group said he had been carrying out this task for the past eight days.
“I’m from Punjab. It is not only about farmers. It is about the food security of India. If farmer falls, the total economics of the Punjab and Haryana falls. We don’t want to let it happen. We will try till our last breath, come what may,” the younger man said.
Besides wheat flour, the group has also been supplying rice, vegetables, and biscuits, according to a third man on the supply truck.
“We will not allow any shortage of food and water for our brothers,” he said.
