Jal Kaur, a 74-year-old resident of Patiala, has been wheelchair-bound for over a decade. Her knees hurt when she walks but the pain did not deter her from joining the anti-farm bill protest here at the Singhu border.
On December 12, a group of youngsters in her village helped her to board the bus to the protest site. Since then, she has been dependent on their support for moving around. Staying in one of the tents with other 20 elderly women, two of whom have trouble walking as well, her wheelchair is pulled by a youngster.
Back home, she wouldn’t get up from the bed unless necessary, but here she roams in her wheelchair all day. She has to do everything, including bathing, sitting in a wheelchair. She wakes up early in the morning, and a youngster takes her out of the tent.
For children
But she is willing to undergo the sufferings. For she says, she has to fight for her children. “Why doesn’t Modi [Prime Minister Narendra Modi] understand that we won’t leave until we win?” she asked. “He wants us to become beggars and we are a community who doesn’t leave anyone on empty stomach.”
Around 11 a.m., she leaves the tent and is helped towards the stage. She returns to the tent around 5 p.m. just before dusk. With her are friends Malkit Kaur (84) and Jaswinder Kaur (72), and both can’t walk without a stick. They are unbothered about physical pain. “We don’t care about our pains now.
Just about rights
“All we care about is our rights and our fields. The government is taking us for a ride with their talk,” said Ms. Jaswinder. Joining the protest on Tuesday were 55 people, including 25 children aged between 4 and 12, from a village in Chandigarh. All except one were women and children. “We have brought children here so that they know why their fathers and grandfathers are here. They should know that we fought for our independence back in 1947 like this and we won. Now, we are fighting against black laws,” said Parminder Kaur (45), who had tagged her children along.
On Tuesday, Kurukshetra Bar Association also extended solidarity to the protesting farmers and a group of them marked their presence. “We are here to support the farmers because most of us belong to farming background,” said advocate Vikas Saharan.
