I am here to fight for my children, says grandmother at Delhi’s farmers protest

Jal Kaur, 74-year-old resident of Patiala, has been wheel-chair bound for over a decade now — her knees hurt when she walks — but that hasn’t stopped her from joining the farmers protesting at Singhu against the ‘black laws’.

Ms Kaur was helped by village youngsters to board a bus to Delhi on December 12. Since then, she has been staying at one of the tents with other 20 elderly women — two of whom also have trouble walking. Though she needs help with most tasks, it has not diminished her support as she is wheeled around by a youngster.

Back home in Patiala, she says she wouldn’t get up from bed unless necessary but here, she has been literally going places on her wheelchair.

“I am here to fight for my children. Why doesn’t (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi understand that we won’t leave till we win,” she asked. “He wants us to become beggars and we are a community who doesn’t leave anyone hungry!”

Around 11 a.m., Ms Kaur leaves the tent and is helped towards the makeshift stage at the protest site. She returns to the tents around 5 p.m. before dark.

With her are her friends 84-year-old Malkit Kaur and 72-year-old Jaswinder Kaur — both of whom supported by their trusty walking sticks.

“We don’t care about any of our pains right now. All we care about is our rights and our fields. The government is only taking us for a ride with their talk,” said Ms Jaswinder.

Joining the protest on Tuesday, were 55 people from a village in Chandigarh including 25 children between 4 and 12. All of 55 except one were women and children, who had come to offer solidarity with the protestors.

“We have brought the children here so they know why their fathers and grandfathers are here. They should know that we fought for our independence back in 1947 like this and we won; now, we are fighting against black laws,” said Parminder Kaur,45, who had come with the children.

The day also saw support from the Kurukshetra Bar Association for the protesting farmers with a group of lawyers visiting the protest site. “We are here to support the farmers because most of us belong to farming background,” said advocate Vikas Saharan.

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