3 min readChandigarhAug 31, 2024 04:54 PM IST
First published on: Aug 31, 2024 at 01:28 PM IST
Wrestler Vinesh Phogat joined the protesting farmers at the Shambhu border between Punjab and Haryana on Saturday morning, saying that she was a farmer’s daughter and her family had gone through the daily struggles a farmer faces.
“Faslon aur naslon ko bachane ke liye hum kisan aur mazdoor parivar ke saath khade hain (To save crops and future generations, I am standing with the families of farmers and labourers),” Phogat said, as hundreds of farmers observed the 200th day of their protest over several demands, including a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops. “Farmers should be heard and they must get their rights,” she added.
“We are citizens in this country and if anyone raises an issue, it should be heard. Everything should not be linked to caste or religion,” Phogat further said.
Phogat said that when she led protests in Delhi last year to get a sexual assault case registered against former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, then chief of the Wrestling Federation of India, several farmers had courted arrest in support.
“They were from Bhartiya Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh)-Haryana, BKU Ekta (Azad), BKU (Krantikari), Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee and Rajasthan Gramin Kisan Sangharsh Samiti. I cannot forget their support for the wrestlers’ struggle and I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I am always standing tall with the farmers and labourers of this country,” she said.
Phogat was honoured by farmer union leaders Sarwan Singh Pandher, coordinator of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM); Amarjeet Singh Morhi from BKU (Shaheed Bhagat Singh); Tejveer Singh, spokesperson of BKU (Shaheed Bhagat Singh); and Surjit Singh Phul from BKU (Krantikari), among others.
Phogat, who had visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Friday, later went to the Khanauri border where she would address farmers.
“We are proud of Phogat’s performance at the Olympics and her support for farmers shows that she understands our issues,” Pandher said, adding, “We appeal to the government to open the Shambhu and Khanauri borders so that we can march towards Delhi to get ourselves heard.”
Farmers under the banner of KMM and SKM (non-political) have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders since February 13 this year.
Julana will see a three-way contest with Vinesh Phogat, Captain Bairagi, and Kavita Dalal. (PTI Photo) 
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