‘I could not control myself’: Punjab farmer cycles 400 km to join farmers’ protest

A farmer in Punjab’s Faridkot was restless. His fellow farmers were braving the winter chill, sitting in the open at Delhi border to protest against the recently-passed farm laws. The 45-year-old farmer grabbed his bicycle and set out for the protest site, leaving his wife and son behind.

Sporting a bright green turban, wearing a kurta-pyjama with a sleeveless jacket, Pal Sandhu, a resident of Rameana village cycled nearly 400 km from Faridkot to the Tikri border in Delhi to join the massive protest by the farmers.

“I could not control myself after knowing about the condition of my fellow farmers who are braving the chilling winter and so many difficulties for a common goal. My brother had come a few days ago in a tractor-trolley, which is parked at the Tikri border protest site. I decided to leave too and rode till here on a bicycle,” Sandhu told PTI.

The only thing Pal brought with him was a poem by noted Punjabi poet Avtar Singh Sandhu or ‘Pash’Pash’. His cycle, a new model decked up with cardboards displaying the poem ‘Sab Ton Khatarnak’ (the most dangerous ) is attracting the attention of protesters and passers-by.

Detailing his journey, the Faridkot farmer said he had started from his home on December 19 at 8 AM and rode till 6:30 PM that day before resting.

“The next day, I started early at 6 AM from mid-way, and then reached Tikri Border protest site at around 6:30 PM yesterday. When one is pumped up with a spirit of shared struggle, tiredness doesn’t come. We are farmers, hardship is our life,” he told PTI.

Asked how he managed to get food, he said, “sab Guru ki kripa se ho gaya (it was managed with the blessings of the Guru)”.

“On the way, people saw the Bharat Kisan Union flag planted on my cycle and they gave me food and hot water. Many more people are travelling every day to join the protests at Tikri and Singhu borders. There is a feeling of solidarity among people right now,” he said.

Reading aloud the revolutionary poem by ‘Pash’ to those gathered around him, he explained why he chose to carry placards with its verses written on them.

“Pash was a visionary and raised his voice against oppression and injustice. Today, if we sit at home and not become part of this movement, then we are ‘living dead’… as the poet had said, ‘murda shanti se bhar jana’. We are all here, because we farmers don’t want our dreams to become nightmares”, adds PTI.

Sandhu rued that a section of people are trying to “delegitimise our movement”, and branded the protesting farmers as “terrorists”. He then held the hands of a fellow farmer and said, “See these hands, dry and rough, are these the hands of a terrorist? These are the hands of a hard-working farmer”.