NEW DELHI: For farmers driving their tractors on the premises of Red Fort on the Republic Day, it was a “symbolic” victory. The mood inside the premises was that of resilience and triumph. While the Central government turned a deaf ear to their demands, the tractor rally signified their strength and solidarity, the farmer leaders said.
“We want to tell Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the use of brute force will not work. He tried to use his strength and bar us from entering the Red Fort complex. But we have come here and hoisted our flag.
"Modi ji should now understand the strength of farmers,” said Gurnam Singh.
“If the government does not repeal the farm laws, it will cost it heavily. We will hold further consultations to decide on the way ahead,” he added.
For another 65-year-old farmer, the rally was a reply to the ‘torture’ unleashed by the government on its farmers.
“Nobody would want to remember such a prime minister,” the farmer said. Youth said the most defining moment for them would be when the government rise above “communal politics”.
Describing the farm laws as “black” laws, 23-year-old Gulshan Singh said the only dialogue they would entertain is the repeal of the laws.
Jodhbir Singh, 17, said the government was “tainting” the movement with a communal colour. “We have been called terrorists. We want to highlight when we come to protest here, we do not identify with any religion,” the teenager said. Sixteen-year-old Jagjit Singh said youth like him were participating in the rally of their own will as it was about their “future”.
As the agitating farmers drove back from the heart of Delhi to the border areas where they have been sitting on a protest for the last two months, they said they knew very well that they were far from achieving their rights but they will continue to fight till the Central government repeal the three contentious farm laws.