‘Lost husband, but zeal to pressurise Centre alive’

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 25

Around 20 km ahead of Nawanshahar lies Hasanpur Khurd village in Balachaur. Surinder Singh (55), of this village is among one of the casualties, which took place during the farmers’ stir on Delhi border. The deceased had joined the protest on November 30.

With a little landholding, Surinder used to grow crop for 10 family members and a dozen head of cattle.

Now, his son, Manpreet Singh (29), has taken the baton to continue farming. Manpreet said, “My father used to wake up at dawn to work in the fields and feed cattle.”

Having left for the protest site with fellow villagers, Surinder succumbed to his injuries on December 4, after a speeding tractor-trailer hit him near Tikri border while he was answering the call of nature.

Shattered by his sudden demise, his wife, Balbir Kaur (54), blamed the Centre for enacting such laws that has forced farmers to camp on the roads.

“Though he has left for heavenly abode, our zeal to pressurise the Central Government to revoke the farm laws is unshakable. In fact, it has doubled with the sacrifice of my husband.” she said.

Furious over the government’s attitude towards their agitation and casualties, villagers said they won’t come back till the farm laws were withdrawn added Balbir, whose one hand had got chopped off in a fodder machine a few years ago.

The death of Surinder has shocked Gurdeep Kaur (80), whose another son had died around two years ago in an accident. Narrating the importance of farming for development of the country, Gurdeep said these days there’s a different kind of hustle in villages. Kindly stand with farmers to protect their rights, she appealed.