Ex-servicemen head for Singhu border in Delhi

Gs Paul

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 17

Amid farmers’ protest against the newly enacted farm laws, a group of ex-servicemen from Amritsar has shown solidarity with them. On Thursday, around 90 retired defence personnel left for Singhu border to join the protests.

Col Gurmukh Singh (retd) told that the purpose of move was to enliven the slogan ‘jai jawan-jai kisan’ and extending a helping hand and moral support to the farmers who have been keeping the flame of the fighting spirit ignited.

“You cannot separate the ‘jawans’ and ‘kisan’ as you can find generally in Punjab, both belong to the same family. Our joint aim was to help the farmers, who amid the biting cold have been staging sit-ins at New Delhi borders for their rights and future prospects. So, the initial thought was to boost the morale of the farmers at this juncture. Together, we rose around Rs5 lakh to be utilised for what was required for the protest,” he said.

Col Sarparinder Singh Sandhu (retd) said that if we are successful in our first attempt to help farmers at Singhu border, we could extend our services to farmers at Tikri border too. He said that a positive approach has been adopted that was devoid of any ill-will.

“We are over 350 ex-servicemen who joined hands for the cause, but we could not allow all to go to Delhi border. We will extend services in batches. For the purpose – to maintain sanitation at the protesting site – we have also been taking along the professional sanitation workers. We are also carrying tinned milk for the farmers,” he said.

Subedar Davinder Singh appealed the Centre to revoke the farm laws that were never had sat with the farmers. “We fail to understand that when the farmers themselves were reluctant to accept, why was there a hitch to revoke the new law? The Centre should shun ego and repeal the laws that were framed keeping in view the interest of big corporate houses,” he questioned.