Who is farmer leader Dallewal: a veteran of hunger strikes, cancer patient, now feminist icon

Dallewal’s son Gurpinderpal Dallewal said, “He transferred 4,5 acres to me, two acres in the name of my wife law Harpreet Kaur and the remaining 10.5 acres in the name of my son Jigarjot Singh. He told us that his fast unto death was going to be an aar-paar ki ladai (decisive battle) for the farmers”.

After making his will, Dallewal said that he has transferred some land to his daughter-in-law so that she remains financially secure. “Normally, the daughters-in-law are called ‘begani’ throughout their married life. I believe, a woman who comes to your house, takes care of the family, fulfils all responsibilities, deserves to be owned by the family as their own,” said Dallewal.

Even as the veteran of many a hunger strikes was shifted to a hospital in Ludhiana, the social media found in Dallewal a new hero.

“He is the face of feminist farmer leader,” said social activist Samita Kaur. An X user said every Indian can learn a lesson from Dallewal’s gesture. Another user praised his progressive thoughts.

The farmer leader, however, has had his fair share of controversies especially when a video had surfaced in February, purportedly showing him talking to farmers saying that he now has the opportunity to bring down the rising popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The video came to fore days after farmers, marching to Delhi under the aegis of his SKM (non-political) and Kisan Majdoor Morcha were stopped by the security forces at the Punjab-Haryana border.

A follower of social activist Anna Hazare, Dallewal had announced his fast unto death to coincide with the the fourth anniversary of the November 26, 2020 march to Delhi by farmers to protest against the now repealed farm laws.

Dallewal, who heads the BKU (Ekta Sidhupur), has remained active in the Malwa belt of Punjab remaining at the forefront of protests against land acquisition apart from demanding compensation for farmers who died by suicide. BKU (Ekta Sidhupur) was one of the 32 farmer bodies from Punjab that formed Samyukta Kisan Morcha, which spearheaded Delhi agitation. Dallewal, however, was critical of SKM leader Balbir Singh Rajewal for creating a separate body to contest 2022 Assembly elections in Punjab and later broke away with some other like-minded farm leaders to create SKM (non-political).

He had earlier hit the headlines on February 23, 2018, when a convoy of tractors that he was leading towards Delhi to demand the implementation of Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations for ensuring remunerative prices for farmers’ produce and farm debt waiver was stopped at Cheema Mandi in Sangrur by the then Congress government in Punjab. The convoy had then camped for 28 days at Cheema Mandi, before government allowed him to resume his march. Subsequently, Dallewal joined Hazare’s hunger strike in Delhi on March 23, 2018.

On January 1, 2019, Dallewal again followed in Hazare’s footsteps by going on a hunger strike for five days in Chandigarh over various issues related to the farm crisis. In January 2021, he sat on a chain hunger strike at Delhi borders as part of the protest to get the farm laws repealed.

In November 2022, Dallewal had decided to launch a hunger strike after Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann hit out at the farmer unions for frequently staging protests by blocking roads to get their demands fulfilled.

His last hunger strike was on June 8, 2023, when he sat outside the head office of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) office in Patiala to get his list of 21 demands fulfilled. As the dharna was organised outside the gate, nearly 40 employees of PSPCL could leave the office only by 10 pm. The hunger strike-cum-dharna continued till June 14 when a Punjab Police team forcibly admitted Dallewal to hospital for treatment. The dharna had to be lifted as PSPCL. A few of the demands were 10-hour power supply to tube wells, regularisation of tube well connections, and halt on installation of smart meters.

That was his fifth hunger strike in five years.