Wounded farmer pens poems on struggle
Aparna Banerji
Tribune News Service
Singhu, December 25
“Inquilabi khande di dhaar naalon tikhi, mehnat kash lokan khatir larna paina ae, Madho Das to Banda Bahadur Singh banna paina ae, chup kareyan ton nahio sarna (Revolution is sharper than a sword. We have to fight for the workers. We have to become Banda Bahadur Singh from Madho Das. Silence won’t help),” chants 61-year-old Jugral Singh as he nurses a wound on his right hand’s little finger.
Caused by a tear gas shell that brushed past his hand on December 26, the day residents of his Jattha village reached the Singhu border, the wound hasn’t deterred Jugral, who has been busy penning poetry from his new abode in a trolley.
Among the first farmers to reach at the Singhu border, Jugral comes from Acharwal village, which is known for its martyrs.
Meanwhile, poet Jangan Singh (85) from Jhorda village in Ludhiana is also busy writing poetry at the Singhu border. He says, “Pehlan tote ch painda si, sathiyan keha gaddi ch pao – buzurg banda. Haar ke menu pakki rajai banake diti. (I was sleeping on tattered rags. But my union made a warm quilt for me. Now I live in a tent.)”
“I am not moving from here as long as the Central Government doesn’t repeal the contentious agriculture laws and ensure we get the right MSP on all crops,” he signs off.
