Farmers protest: Police were fed by a gurudwara’s community kitchen in Haryana Karnal
Karnal, Haryana:
As farmers clashed with the police during their march to Delhi to protest against agricultural laws, a moving video has emerged from the Karnal of Haryana, where langar (community kitchen) of a gurudwara served a delicious (and free) meal to a large number of policemen.
While it is unclear whether the gurudwara, which is located along National Highway 1, is connected to protesting farmers, the video presents a welcome alternative to the chaos unfolding some 120 km away and underscores the need for humanity and empathy everywhere. .
In the video, dozens of uniformed police officers (some with lathis and in what appears to be riot gear) are sitting across from each other in two long lines. Langar volunteers (all wearing face masks) can be seen serving them rice, dal, vegetables, and other foods.
As the 70-second video plays, more police officers can be seen arriving and settling in for a meal, using their riot vests as a sheet to sit on. Although the voices are muffled, at one point in the video someone can be heard saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
All this happens along a small bridge over a canal; the video shows the police vans parked.
Gurudwaras are famous for their hospitality and the tradition of serving free food to all; langar, or soup kitchens, often feed hundreds of people without discrimination.
Farmers’ protest: Police were fed by a gurudwara’s community kitchen in Haryana Karnal.
Farmers from several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab, began marching towards Delhi on Thursday, only to be confronted by a Haryana police force that was instructed to use lathi charges, tear gas and water cannons in the middle of the winter in an attempt to defeat them.
The policemen also erected barricades wrapped in barbed wire and trucks loaded with sand, and dug roads to act as trenches. The images showed scenes that would not look out of place in a war zone.
Images emerged this morning of farmers putting aside their concerns to help move police barricades and allow ambulances to pass, potentially saving the lives of unknown people.
Thousands of farmers arrived at the Delhi border on Friday morning, where they encountered more police barriers and tear gas. They came with tractors carrying essential food and supplies, and have said they will not return until the center has repealed farm laws.
They are protesting laws that the center says will reform the agricultural sector by eliminating middlemen and improving farmers’ profits by allowing them to sell products anywhere in the country.
Farmers and opposition parties argue that the laws will deprive farmers of a guaranteed minimum price for their produce and leave them at the mercy of companies.
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