Updated: November 27, 2020 1:49:30 pm
Leading from the front, during the march. (Photo Express)
As trucks and trams arrived in Haryana from Punjab with protesting farmers on Thursday, several women were seen riding to participate in the agitation. Part of the Delhi Chalo farmers’ protest are more than 40,000 women, and most of them (almost 30,000) congregated in two brigades organized by BKU (Ugrahan).
While around 10,000 marched to Delhi on Thursday, the rest, associated with the Ugrahan group, will begin their journey to the national capital on Friday.
“Women were fewer in number in the Sardulgarh Morcha, but they were still present and marched forward with us after we removed the barriers placed by the Haryana government on the Sardulgarh-Sirsa border,” said Buta Singh Burjgill, President of BKU (Dakaunda).
“More than 500 women also went from Lalru’s side to Delhi. They have brought their clothes because they know there is no date to return, ”said Jagmohan Singh Patiala, general secretary of BKU (Dakaunda).
At the BKU (Ugrahan) Bathinda-Dabwali morcha, the union’s vice chairman, Harinder Kaur Bindu, took center stage as one of the main speakers of the day.
“We will make our morcha swell every day and we are confident that Haryana herself will give us a way to move forward. This two-month fight for farm laws has given us many women leaders and thousands have joined this union as well, ”she said.
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Paramjeet Kaur Pitho, another female leader there, said: “Women also sleep in carts while camping here, agriculture is not only related to men … This movement has become a movement that involves everyone.”
Harpreet Kaur Jethuke, another speaker at Bathinda-Dabwali Morcha, said: “These days there are more female speakers and we make a list to adjust their speaking dates. This is the achievement of conscience against agricultural laws. “
Those working to mobilize women workers hope their support base will grow in the coming days.
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Sukhjeet Kaur, who has been working with workers for the Bathinda-Dabwali morcha, and Gurpreet Kaur and Malan Kaur, speakers at the Khanauri-Jind morcha, expressed the same hope.
“Women are part of this fight. Without their support, we cannot have the strength to move forward, ”said Bhupinder Singh Maan, a farmer leader from Gurdaspur as he crossed the Shambhu barrier.
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