After poll war, farm widow fights for daughter’s life

Perneet Singh

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Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 30

After a month of tireless campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, farm widow Veerpal Kaur from Ralla village in Mansa district is now fighting a battle on the personal front. Her daughter Diljot Kaur is admitted at the PGIMER, Chandigarh, after suffering a fall at their residence.

Talking to The Tribune, Kiranjit Kaur Jhunir, convener of Committee for Farmers and Families of Agrarian Suicide Victims, said “Diljot had been campaigning hard for her mother, accompanying her from one village to another, without bothering about the harsh weather conditions. Apparently, reeling under dehydration, she fainted and suffered a fall from the stairs at her residence a few days ago, as a result of which her intestines got damaged. She was referred to Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, and subsequently to the PGIMER, Chandigarh.”

She revealed that the family was facing fund crunch. They had been managing funds from different quarters till now, but it was getting difficult with each passing day. “We ended up shelling out Rs 5,000 in Patiala and now another Rs 15,000 in Chandigarh, said Kiranjit, who guided the farm widow in her poll battle as well.

Veerpal works as an Anganwadi helper and draws a meagre salary of Rs 2,800 per month. She had crowd funded for her security deposit as well as poll campaign, which she ran on an auto-rickshaw fitted with a public address system.

Meanwhile, Veerpal thanked all those who had voted for her. She had polled 2,078 votes while Manjeet Kaur, a labourer’s widow from Khyala Kalan village, bagged 1,072 votes in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections from Bathinda constituency. Both of them had filed the papers together over the issue of deepening agrarian crisis. “For me, it was never about winning or losing the electoral battle. I entered the poll arena just to highlight the plight of farm suicide-affected families. I had won the battle the day I filed my nomination papers,” she added.

Ironically, Veerpal didn’t receive any support from farm unions. On the contrary, her supporters were not allowed to disburse leaflets during a farmer union’s protest in Bathinda a few days before the polling.

On how they intended to take their struggle forward, Kiranjit said, “We are planning to hold a meeting of farm suicide-affected families from across the region in Mansa soon. We will decide the date for it once Diljot recuperates and returns home. Our priority right now is to get her the best treatment possible.”

Veerpal’s father had consumed celphose tablets while her husband had immolated himself due to debt burden.