Thousands of female farmers hold sit-ins and a hunger strike outside India’s capital on International Women’s Day against new agricultural laws.
Maligning a peaceful grassroots movement by intentionally creating a narrative of terrorism around it might be a victory for the BJP and its extreme right wing partners but not for India’s democracy. Farmers are one of the greatest assets in creating a more peaceful and prosperous India. Every freedom loving citizen needs to stand with their calls for equity and justice.
Far too long have authorities escaped scrutiny and if the motivation behind acts like these is to quiet the voice and slow the thrust of a movement... surely it will have the opposite affect.
EXCLUSIVE: Randhir Singh was so appalled at the brutal treatment of farmers protesting outside Delhi that he flew to India - he saw elderly women with black eyes and asked 'how can this be happening in modern India?'
Historically, Mai Bhago and Gadri Gulab Kaur, a freedom fighter from Sangrur who left her husband and the prospect of a safe life in the West to join the Ghadar movement and fight the British often come to mind.
Perhaps the most glaring example to demonstrate the struggle is a cultural one and it is between authoritarianism vs the will of the people is that of Nodeep Kaur.
Talking to her made me feel like I was talking to a lioness, not a middle-aged woman. Jaswant Kaur and her family have been at the borders for the last 25 days. She, and many other women and their families, journeyed from their pind (village) to Delhi via tractor.
Did I serve 22 years in army to hear the word terrorist?
...the money was sent by some persons abroad which he handed over to Nodeep’s mother Swaranjit Kaur at Gandhar village here.
From supplying food and essential items to sending villagers in rotating batches to the protest sites, the farmers from Punjab have figured out a way to keep the struggle on amid adverse conditions.