Entire country needs MSP, send message to Centre Punjab is not lone fighter: Dallewal

Chandigarh: Fasting Punjab farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal on Saturday appealed to farmer outfits in other states to fight the agitation seeking legal guarantee to MSP strongly in their states to send a message to the Centre that it is not Punjab's fight alone.

During his over 11-minute address at the "Kisan Mahapanchayat" at Khanauri, Dallewal tried to send across a message that his life was not more important than farmers.

Seven lakh farmers have committed suicides in the country and he knows what their families have to go through, Dallewal said at the mahapanchayat called by the two forums which is spearheading the ongoing agitation.

The 70-year-old farmer leader was brought out in a stretcher and addressed the gathering of farmers while lying on a bed from a stage at the protest site He referred to farmers’ demands, including the MSP guarantee, indicating that he understands the enormity of the task at hand but that does not mean one will sit and do nothing.

Dallewal, who is convener of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political), has so far refused to take any medical aid despite his prolonged fasting which completed 40 days on Saturday, which has caused his health to deteriorate.

During the past few days, Dallewal had made an address to the farmers via short video messages, but this was his first public appearance after several days when he began his fast on November 26.

Dallewal, whose outfit was earlier part of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) during its agitation against now repealed farm laws, said, "When we returned from Delhi (borders after the 2020-21 stir), farmer leaders from other states had said Punjab is going back after the repeal of three laws.... We had told them Punjab cannot betray anyone." "Now, Punjab is at the forefront again. I request organisations of other states with folded hands to fight agitation strongly in their states and send a message to the central government that this agitation is not of Punjab alone but of the entire country,” he said.

“The entire country needs MSP," said Dallewal, who in between took sips of water and told doctors standing nearby to allow him to complete his speech and not worry about his blood pressure.

He told the gathering, "The way you have come today in numbers. Now, from every village one trolley should reach Khanauri to strengthen this Morcha".

"The battle which I am fighting, it is not me who is fighting. It is being said Dallewal is fighting... It is God's will. The way God wants one to do, we have to do accordingly," he said.

During his brief address, Dallewal said, "The night we got information that police can evict us, the same night scores of youths reached Khanauri from Punjab and Haryana and took charge of the morcha...".

The Punjab government recently made it clear that it had no intention to forcibly evict Dallewal from the present agitation site.

"I have faith that we will win the Morcha. The government may try to use as much force, but they cannot defeat the morcha," he said.

Then going into the enormity of the task at hand in fighting the farmers' battle for MSP guarantee and other demands, Dallewal said, "It is not that I don't understand this.... I have studied, and I know it is difficult. But seeing the difficulty or enormity of the task if we sit doing nothing, then how will things work".

See how much loss we suffered, he said, referring to farmer suicides.

"Seven lakh farmers have committed suicide in the country. If we sit and think it is a difficult task, it will not be achieved, should we let them die. We are farmer leaders, many of our colleagues are farmer leaders," he said.

Dallewal said he does not even care about his life, but the battle has to be fought so that no farmer suicides happen again.

"The Supreme Court recently said that Dallewal's life is important. I had said that day hon'ble Supreme Court I am also human, alright, but what about families of those 7 lakh farmers who have committed suicide. We have to stop suicides in future," he said.

Dallewal thanked the farmers who came for the "Kisan Mahapanchayat" from far off places and said despite doctors not permitting, it was his desire to meet them all.

With three women activists of a farmer organisation killed and many injured in a bus accident in Punjab's Barnala when they were headed to Haryana's Tohana, Dallewal said he has learnt about this and another accident and expressed his deep condolences.

The farmers, under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 last year, after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.

Farmer leaders had earlier said Dallewal had not eaten anything during his fast and was surviving only on water.

Dallewal, the president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur), hails from Dallewal village in Punjab's Faridkot district.

Before announcing his fast-unto-death, Dallewal transferred his properties to his son, daughter-in-law and grandson. His wife died in January last year.

Dallewal's BKU (Ekta Sidhupur) was part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, which spearheaded a farmers' stir in 2020 against three contentious agriculture laws of the Centre that have since been repealed. But it broke away after SKM leader Balbir Singh Rajewal formed the Samyukta Samaj Morcha to contest the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls.

Dallewal later formed the SKM (Non-Political) by involving like-minded farmer leaders.