Next to high-rise buildings, a five-star hotel and residential locality in Vaishali, thousands of protesting farmers lay on the road, tired after a demanding day. But they were ready for the next. They set up temporary ‘shelters’, spreading tarpaulin sheets on the road for rest. Some were engaged in cooking on small stoves, while others played cards to kill time. And some just hummed along to folk songs. ALSO READ | Teargas, water cannons greet farmers on Delhi-Ghaziabad border Kapil, a farmer from Parai village in Muzaffarnagar, manned the cooking operation. He said 25 people had come from his village, and his trolley was loaded with ration that can “last months”. “Today’s menu is chapati and dal fry. One of the senior members of my village is cooking. I have a gas cylinder which can last up to a month.” He says preparation for the march started three months ago. “We collected money from the entire village. There are around 1,100 voters in our village and most are farmers. They gave money ranging from Rs 10-1,000.” He said their main grievance was non-payment of sugarcane produce they had sold to mills. ALSO READ | Tired, fatigued but will go on: A few women make themselves count Babdin (45) from Fatehpur block of Barabanki district, 500 km from Delhi, travelled on a train to Haridwar and then by foot to reach Delhi. Food for him will come from the nearby temporary kitchen. “We are potato farmers and we have come here because despite government assurances, we are not getting minimum support price,” he said. He smoked a bidi, lay his head on a gunny sack and complained about authorities not providing them toilet facilities. Having finished dinner, farmer Satpat Singh from Kakrala Morna village pointed to a sack of flour and potatoes. “We have come fully prepared,” he said. Nearby, a group of farmers danced on top of a trolley as others cheered them on. The youngest, 10-year-old Mughal-e-Azam, sat on the footpath and ate rice with onions. He said he was happy to be a part of the protest. “I have come with my mother to support our cause,” he said.
