Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal: ‘I am still on hunger strike, MSP fight will continue…We will remember Punjab govt action’

After the meeting with Union Ministers on March 19 in Chandigarh, the Punjab government betrayed the farmers by arresting us on our return. At the same time, Punjab police is directly responsible for the theft of farmers’ belongings at the Khanauri and Shambhu protest sites during their crackdown. We will fight it out, but the larger struggle is about our ongoing agitation to seek MSP as a legal guarantee which can give economic independence to farmers across the country. No doubt, there is a pause in our ongoing stir but it hasn’t died down. Our struggle will continue. I want to give this message to our fellow farmers – Assi jittange jarur… sangharsh chalda rahega (we will win for sure, our struggle will continue).

Have any calls been given for a fresh farm agitation?

One protest dharna was started by farmers at my native village Dallewal in Faridkot district from March 20 onwards. This was to protest against police crackdown. But we are raising our demands as well through it. On April 3, farmers have been asked to reach Dallewal village in large numbers for a big gathering. Besides, the Kisan Mahapanchayats will be organised at the grain market of Sirhind in Fatehgarh Sahib district, grain market of Dhanaula in Barnala district, and Doda village in Muktsar district on April 6,7 and 8 respectively. BKU (Sidhupur) will be organising these rallies and the leadership of SKM (non-political) and other unions will be part of it. I myself will try to be part of these three rallies.

Afterwards, we will organise Kisan Mahapanchayats in all the districts of Punjab to protest against the way the Punjab government cleared our dharnas and caused the loss of farmers’ belongings at these protest sites. It will also be an effort to rebuild the farm agitation as the fight for our 12 demands will have to continue.

But you are at the hospital. Have you ended your fast?

I am at a hospital but I want to be part of these rallies. I haven’t ended my hunger strike yet. On April 2, I entered day 136 of my hunger strike which was started on November 26, 2024. I had started taking medical assistance from January 18 when the Union government invited us to resume talks. However, I had been taking only water and nothing else. On March 19, when Punjab police arrested farmers, I had stopped consuming water in protest. But I consumed water on March 28, the day all farmers were released from the jail. Hence, I am still on hunger strike.

How do you propose to lead the agitation ahead?

Highs and lows keep happening when we struggle for a cause and hence, we are not deterred by it. The struggle may take a little longer but we are not going to give it up at all.

Our next round of talks with Union government is on May 4. We had earlier also appealed to Union government and appeal again now to hold our meeting in Delhi instead of Chandigarh as all our 12 demands are related to the Centre.

Do you have any issues with the Punjab government?

On March 19 night, when a police operation forcibly removed our protest dharna from Khanauri, hundreds of farmers were arrested, and under police supervision, their trolleys and makeshift homes were damaged. Items such as refrigerators, coolers, cylinders, utensils, ACs, etc. of many farmers are still missing. Though DIG, Patiala range, Mandeep Singh Sidhu visited the Khanauri dharna site and claimed in front of the media that all tractors, 650 trolleys, and 28 water tankers had been returned to the farmers and that 61 cylinders, 20 refrigerators, and 6 washing machines were also returned to them, the number of trolleys was much more than 650. There were around 500 makeshift houses at the protest site, each containing essential items like refrigerators, inverters, batteries, cylinders, kitchenware, beds, and mattresses. Thus, according to our records, farmers received only a fraction of their belongings.

We appeal to the Punjab DGP to conduct a thorough investigation into the missing belongings of farmers. If the authorities fail to take appropriate action, farmers will have no choice but to gherao the IG office in Patiala in the coming days.

How was the 2020-21 farm movement against the now-repealed three Central farm laws different from the current Shambhu-Khanauri agitation?

In the agitation against the three farm laws, though we had lifted the dharnas after they were repealed, the MSP demand was still left pending… But the farmers had cleared the protest sites on their own. While coming back, we had donated many items to the local villagers as we couldn’t bring everything back. Farmers had come home happily while dancing on the way.

But this time, our temporary settlements were damaged with bulldozers, farmers were put in jail irrespective of their age. With small contributions, people had purchased many things and they had brought a number of gadgets from their own houses. Punjab government’s approach to arrest the farmer leaders and later damaging their temporary settlements at protest sites was not a good one, and we will remember its action. “Sab yaad rakheya jayega (everything will be remembered)”.