CHANDIGARH – Showing support by saying, “your daughter is with you”, wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who was disqualified from the 50-kg final match in the Paris games, on Saturday joined farmers’ protest site at the Shambhu border on the Punjab-Haryana border to mark 200 days of the agitation.
At the protest site, the Olympian wrestler, who was honoured by the farmers, said, “Your agitation completes 200 days today. I pray to God that you get what you have come here for — your right, for justice…Your daughter stands with you.”
She said it has been 200 days since the farmers have been sitting here.
“It is painful to see this. All of them are citizens of this country. Farmers run the country. Nothing is possible without them, not even athletes — if they don’t feed us, we won’t be able to compete,” she said.
“Many times we are helpless and can’t do anything. We represent the country at such big levels but we can’t do anything for our family even when we see them sad. I urge the government that they should listen (to them). They had admitted their mistake last time, they should fulfill the promises that they made. The country won’t progress, if people sit on streets like this,” the Olympian told the media.
Farmers have been staging a protest at the Shambhu border since February 13, after authorities didn’t allow them to move ahead towards the national Capital over their demands, including a legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all crops.
Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher stated that the protest is being conducted peacefully.
“The Centre is testing their resolve, and their demands have not yet been met,” he said.
Pandher said that a lot of injustice was done. “We were called Khalistanis and a lot of things. We braved the sun, rain, winter and despite all of that, the protest continued peacefully for 200 days. This is a major success for us.”
The farmers were also aghast over raids carried out by National Investigation Agency (NIA) at the house of women farm leader, Sukhwinder Kaur Khandi, in Bathinda, and others on Friday. -IANS
