‘I feel imprisoned at Shambhu border’

Harmandeep Singh is standing with colourful kites strewn all around him. Up ahead, at the Shambhu border between Punjab and Haryana, huge barricades have been set up by the police to prevent farmers from marching to Delhi.

The 17-year-old from Amritsar used the kites to bring down the drones that were dropping tear-gas shells on the protesting farmers, an innovative way to counter the attack. “I have also applied toothpaste around my eyes as it helps in reducing the effects of tear gas. We will march ahead and win this battle,” he says.

Harmandeep is one among thousands of farmers and labourers from Punjab who began their peaceful march to Delhi on 13 February 2024. At the Shambhu border, they were met with paramilitary, Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel, and police officers. Iron nails and concrete walls were placed on the road, barring farmers from reaching their protest site in Delhi.

At the first barricade, Gurjand Singh Khalsa, addresses a gathering, reiterating the five main demands – guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) as per the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission, a complete waiver of debts for farmers and farm labourers, justice for the farmers affected in the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre and to arrest the culprits, introduce a pension scheme for farmers and labourers and to compensate the families of farmers who were martyred in the 2020-2021 protest.

In 2020-21, farmers across the country had gathered to protest against three farm laws – Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 , the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 , pushed through in Parliament in September 2020. The government agreed to repeal the laws in November 2021. Read PARI stories on the movement: Protests against farm laws: full coverage

“We never ended the protest,” says 22-year-old Khalsa from Karnal.  “We just paused it because we had a meeting with the central government in which the union ministers agreed to all our demands and promised to fulfil them. We waited for this long as the talks continued with the committee formed by the government. But after two years, the meetings were suddenly stopped and the committee was dissolved, forcing us to return.”

A large group of farmers and labourers gathered in the fields right next to the road and started challenging and, distracting officials, so that protestors could cross the border.

As protestors started to break through the barricades at Shambhu, the police officials fired multiple tear gas shells resulting in many people getting injured. Onlookers reported that the police were aiming tear gas shells at the individuals instead of firing it in the air for the dispersal of the crowd. Water cannons were also used to disperse the protestors. Many elderly farmers and labourers came with sticks to defuse the tear gas shells. With every shell defused, the crowd cheered and celebrated.

Tirpal Singh, a farmer from Amritsar, was amongst those diffusing the tear gas shells. “We are not armed, yet they use weapons like rubber bullets, pellets, petrol bombs and tear gas,” he says. “This road belongs to the world, we are just trying to move ahead. Despite being peaceful, we are being attacked. Right now, I feel imprisoned at Shambhu border.”

The 50-year-old feels the government has betrayed them. “The government is not guaranteeing MSP because they want to keep those rich corporates happy who fund their party.” he says.  “Without the guarantee of MSP, big corporations can exploit us. They can come at any time, buy our crops at an extremely cheap rate and then sell it at higher rates.  If the government can waive loans worth hundreds of crores for big corporations, Tirpal Singh believes that it should also be able to waive loans for farmers and labourers who have only a few lakhs or less.

After braving tear gas smoke and water cannons, many protestors tried to remove the nails on the second layer of barricading. At that point, the police were seen firing rubber bullets at the crowd, specifically targeting their legs so they would be forced to retreat.

In a matter of minutes, several farmers and labourers were seen bleeding and being carried away to the medical camp set up by independent doctors.

“In the last hour, I have had to tend to 50 patients," says Dr. Mandeep Singh, who's in charge of one such camp. " I have lost count of the number of patients I have seen since I arrived at Shambhu border," says the 28-year-old doctor. Back in his village of Hoshiarpur in Punjab's Hoshiapur district, Mandeep runs the Baba Shree Chand Ji hospital. The young doctor also comes from a family of farmers and was a part of the protests back in 2020, where he ran a camp with United Sikh, an advocacy and humanitarian relief organisation affiliated to the United Nations.

“Patients have come with several different types of problems ranging from cut wounds to incised wounds and some with breathing difficulties,” he says.  “The government should care for our farmers and their well-being. We only elect them and put them into power,” he adds.

Deepika, another doctor on the ground, has come all the way from Shimla in Himachal Pradesh to help in the medical camp. The 25-year-old says, “Along with breathing difficulties, people are feeling anxious and uneasy. They’re complaining of stomach problems because of all the smoke from the hours of continuous tear gas shelling.”

Doctors are not the only ones helping — a few metres away from the barricades, people are busy setting up their trolleys and preparing langar (a communal free kitchen) for everyone. Many have come with their families. Gurpreet Singh is here with his young son Tejasveer. “I got my son here so that he can see our struggle,” says Gurpreet, who has come from Patiala. “I want to teach him why fighting for our rights is important as this is what us farmers and labourers have to do against governments hellbent on oppressing us,” he adds.

From around the protest site, revolutionary songs and slogans ring out. “ ikki dukki chakk deyange, dhaun te goda rakh deyange" [We’ll knock out every Tom, Dick and Harry, their necks will be under our feet], is the call, as groups march and mobilise more people.

“I protest because it is a fight for the basic rights of farmers,” says Raj Kaur Gill.“ The 40-year-old from Chandigarh was a fixed figure at Matka Chowk in 2021, the nerve site of farmers’ protests in Chandigarh.

“By not providing MSP, the government is making a farmer’s basic survival very difficult. All this just so big corporate houses can flourish, while exploiting those who feed the nation,” she says. “They will never succeed.”