NEW DELHI: The farmers’ protest, on its first day, got massive support from across the political spectrum and student leaders.Twitter was abuzz with netizens expressing solidarity with the farmers. #FarmersProtest was a trending topic on Twitter.“Be with our Annadatas. Tell them we all care for their misery and will help amplify their voice. Kisans in Delhi today and tomorrow,” CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury said.
Former JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar took on BJP while expressing solidarity with the farmers. “Today the farmers of the country have come out on the streets of Delhi to reach their point of view, but those who roam in the Ambani-Adani airplanes are engaged in eating nuts in the name of public service. Come, let’s lift our voice to stop the farm from becoming a peasantry.”
Students, lawyers, doctors and other sections of society came out to support the farmers with food, water and medical care. While the students from Delhi University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Ambedkar University marched with the farmers from different assembly points after receiving them from the railway stations, doctors set up a medical camp right at the ground.
“All preparation for the farmers’ march began a month ago. We started collecting funds from fellow students, teachers and nearby shopkeepers by distributing pamphlets and informing them about the march,” said Ashutosh Kumar, a PhD student of International Studies at JNU. At Ramlila Maidan, senior resident doctor of AIIMS Dr Harjit Singh Bhatti, along with 25 other doctors, set up a camp to support the farmers in “whatever capacity they can”.