In an effort to strengthen the farmers’ protests which entered its 14^th day on Wednesday, leaders, and workers of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) began giving free fuel at a petrol pump at Delhi-Amritsar national highway to support more and more farmers approaching towards Delhi.

Gursharan Singh, a SAD worker said, “We have started this to encourage more and more people of Punjab to join the agitation and further strengthen it. We are doing this with the help of the local youth and our NRI friends.”

A day after Bharat Bandh on December 8, the protest seems  to have gotten more strengthened  as the late-night talk between the farmers’ union leaders and  the Home Minister offered no way out of the ongoing impasse. Meanwhile, traffic in, around, and out of the Capital remained congested as Singhu, Auchandi, Piao, Mangesh borders remain closed.

The farmers are prepared to be on the road unless their demands are met. They have set up a langar at Singhu border. The farmers have come with ration, cylinders, stoves, and other necessities.   DJ system has also been placed to keep up the spirits. Arrangements of WiFi, tractors with amenities, air-conditioning are also there. A protester said that if the protest goes on till May, June, the farmers and their leaders can conduct the meetings in the tractors.

On Wednesday as the GOI sent a new proposal, including the assurance of minimum support price, change in the APMC act, tax on private players among others, the protesting farmers hardened their stance and said that if the government is stubborn to not withdraw the laws, then the farmers are stubborn too to carry on with their protests.

Bharatiya Kisan Union national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said, “Farmers would not go back. It is a matter of their respect. Will government now withdraw laws? Will there be tyranny? If the government is stubborn, then so are farmers. Laws have to be withdrawn.”

Rakesh Tikait also indicated that there is no thaw in the ongoing stalemate, which has laid siege to the Capital.

The Farmers are getting more determined to hold up the protests as more support pour in from abroad. More members of the US House of Representatives have come out in support of the agitating farmers here. From California, a Democrat, and Republican Congressmen have backed the farmers.

Republican Congressmen Doug LaMalfa, representing the second-largest district in California, said that he stood in solidarity with the Punjabi farmers protesting for their livelihoods and protection from “misguided, manipulative government regulations”. They must be allowed to protest peacefully against their government without fear of violence, he demanded. Joshua Keck Harder, another US Representative from California and a Democrat, wanted the Indian government to uphold the right to peaceful demonstration and ensure their citizens’ safety.

The author is a student member of Amity centre of Happiness