NEW DELHI: Students, lawyers, doctors and other sections of the 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 Ramlila 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. Since morning, we are standing at the station to receive them. Food and water have been made available to them with the help of these funds,” said Ashutosh Kumar, a PhD student of International Studies at JNU.
Hemantika, a PhD student of Gender Study at Ambedkar Uinversity, after interacting with some farmers at Anand Viahr Railway Station asserted that the struggle of farmers and students is “connected”. “We might be saying we are here as volunteers, but we are also here for ourselves as the same corporations are taking away their (farmers) childrens’ right of education.”
A group of lawyers greeted the march led by Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav.
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”. “The farmers are agitating for years now, but no one is listening. As a native of Punjab and from a farmer’s background, I can understand their pain. The farmers are committing suicide, taking to other professions because the government is failing to address their issues. It is disheartening,” Bhatti said.