Updated: December 2, 2020 11:25:57 am
Sajjan Singh Cheema has been in touch with other Arjuna and Padma award-winning athletes in Punjab, including former wrestler Kartar Singh (right).
For the past two days, former Indian basketball player and Arjuna award winner Sajjan Singh Cheema has reached out to other Arjuna and Padma award-winning athletes in Punjab to get them to rally in support of protesting farmers. and return your awards to the president.
Cheema has so far received the support of more than 30 former Olympic and continental medal winners, including members of the 1980 Moscow Olympic gold medal-winning Indian hockey team Gurmail Singh and Surinder Singh Sodhi. The group now plans to write to President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday to seek an appointment for December 5.
“My three brothers and I, Balkar Singh Cheema, Kuldeep Singh Cheema and Gurmeet Singh Cheema, have represented India in basketball and we were all able to achieve national and international glory thanks to the efforts of our father Surjit Singh who owned 20 acres of land in the village of Dabulian near Kapurthala. Kisaan desh da hi nahi par khidarian da ann dates vi hai and so sare is ladhai ch ohna de naal hai… Ina bills ch ek badbu aa rahi hai jo kisaana nu changi nahi lag rahi. (A farmer provides food not only to the country but also to the players and we are all with them in this fight. The bills stink of something bad for the farmers … ”shared Cheema, 63, who spoke with The Indian Express. From the private ward of a Jalandhar hospital.
Cheema, who was part of the Indian basketball team at the 1982 Asian Games and retired as SP with the Punjab Police, added: “I suffered from Covid-19 last month and had a high fever since last night. I just got out of UCI and I hope to recover in time to join all the players in returning the awards to the president. So far more than 30 players have joined our initiative and we are receiving calls from players from Punjab and overseas and players like former world bodybuilding champion Prem Chand Degra have joined today. “
While a three-member team of central ministers began talks with farmers ‘representatives Tuesday afternoon, farmers and farmers’ organizations have not stopped the protests and are demanding the total withdrawal of the three agricultural laws. Former Padma Shri and Arjuna laureate and fighter Kartar Singh is also among the athletes, who have decided to return their awards. He said that farmers have been protesting peacefully for the past five months and that the central government should listen to farmers and reverse the bills.
Read | To support the farmers’ protest, more than 30 Punjab athletes decide to return the prizes
“Sade kissan sade pariwar ne… te je kisaan dharne te baithe ne, it is da matlab hai ki so I saw ohna de naal han. (Our farmers are our family and if the farmers are protesting, it means that we are with them too.) The way farmers were detained and tear gas projectiles and water cannons were fired at them is not a step that should be taken in a democracy. The protests are also not just about Punjab farmers. There are Bihari migrants working in Punjab who have less land in Bihar or Uttar Pradesh and these agricultural laws will also affect them adversely, ”Kartar said.
“The MSP and the arthiya system cannot be eliminated in the blink of an eye. I remember how my father Karnail Singh cultivated our 20 acre land and also borrowed money from the arthiyas to support my practice and training. Palwaan di taqat piche kisaan da bahut wada hath hai (Behind the strength of a fighter, the hand of a farmer is always there) ”, he added.
Former Indian women’s hockey team captain Rajbir Kaur and her husband, Gurmail Singh, a member of the gold medal-winning Indian hockey team at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, as well as the bronze medalist from the 1982 Asian Games Balwinder Singh, Harcharan Singh Boparai, member of the 1975 Hockey World Cup winning Indian hockey team, and others have also decided to return their Arjuna awards.
“I too come from a farming family and during my playing days I also played in many tournaments organized by the farming community when I was not playing for the Indian hockey team. Farmers are not demanding something illegal or wrong…. All our medals and awards become useless for us if our farmers are not respected, ”said Kaur, who was a member of the Indian team that won the gold medal at the 1982 Asian Games and the bronze medal at the 1986 Asian Games. .
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