The farmers’ protest, whose leaders had been maligned by the government using distorted alibi of republic day violence, is now a source of hope and hygienic food for the embittered migrant workers, who are returning to home states in the wake of resurge of Covid19.
Sanyukta Kisan Morcha expressed concern over the unwanted back-migration of the migrant labourers to their home-states in the wake of the rising number of cases of Covid19. The body urged the migrants to not go back to their homes, rather join in the protests with the farmers. Many migrant workers were provided healthy and hygienic food by the farmers who have camped at the borders of the national capital since November end, protesting against the three farm laws.
Also Read: Dystopia 2020
The Kisan Morcha stated, “As long as the farmer-protests are going on, the migrant workers can join the protest sites, where farmers & social welfare organizations will make arrangements for shelter and food for all of them. With this, they can also participate in the fight & make it a common struggle against the government.”
Also Read: Some Ominous signs
Leader of the Morcha Manjit Singh Dhaner recalled the misery suffered by the migrant workers last year, where countless had to walk back to their homes with luggages and babies when public transportation was shut down with many succumbing to starvation and some trampled under trains. Addressing the migrant workers he stated, “We do not want that miserable situation to be repeated. It’s better if you come to protest sites at Delhi border.”
Also See: Overview of the Farmers’ unions in the protests
Bharatiya Kisan Union-Chaduni leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni said that migrant workers would get food at the protest sites for up six months or even longer if the protests continue.
At the Ghazipur border, Farmer organizations have started preparing food packets to be distributed at various bus stations and railway stations in Delhi where the migrant workers are risking their lives to return home.
Also See: New mutants of Coronavirus
Despite the continuous rise in the cases of Covid19, which have triggered the efflux of the migrant workers from cities like Delhi, the farmers are in no mood to relent or put down the protests, determined to continue on the path of confrontation with GOI. One of the farmer-organizations of Punjab, BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) had given a call to augment the protests. The SKM highlighted the post-Covid lockdown data which revealed a poor performance in all sectors, barring the agriculture sector. The farmer-morcha activists and the farmer-leaders stated that the GOI has ignored farmers and migrant workers during the 2020 lockdown & that the government has not learnt any lesson from the crumbled state of affairs in the health, social security, and the overall economy. Asking the migrant workers to join forces with farmers, the farmer-activists stated that many may have to again walk thousands of miles, and that the farmers and the labourers would not tolerate the oppression of the government.