Sikh farmers were used to drinking every day. On the first day itself we noticed that many farmers had come for the meeting drunk. Joshi reprimanded them from stage during his speech that day. Without mincing words he said, “Those who wish to drink should leave this gherao.” Surprisingly from the next day onwards no Sikh brother drank during that gherao. This showed the kind of respect Joshi commanded amongst the Sikh farmers.’ Recalling his impressions Badrinath Deokar said, ‘I was amazed to see how resourceful the Sikh farmers were. In front of each tent, they gathered three stones and lit a fire in the middle. They gathered some wood from gardens nearby to make this chulha! They got some tin used for the roof, straightened it with stones and made a tawa (pan) and flat rolling surface out of that. Bottles became rolling pins! They cooked their own rotis. No difficulty was too big for them. Anyone passing by would be invited to join them in for a meal. From the third day so many tractors began to come from the nearby villages filled with food that it was difficult to count them. Each tractor would have a male driver and the rest all would be women. They told us, “Don’t worry about your families. Keep up your fight. We shall take care of all your supplies.” Milk cans, flour, fruit, vegetables kept coming. There was more than what we could consume. When the agitation ended, all the leftover food was taken to the market and was auctioned. Over a lakh of rupees were raised that way! ‘When the agitation began the local citizens were somewhat scared. These farmers were clearly looking rustic and their difference from the sophisticated people of Chandigarh was obvious. On the first day city-dwellers hurriedly took their families inside and locked all doors and windows. The fear on their faces was clearly visible. Even if a farmer knocked at the door of a house to ask for a glass of water, nobody dared to open the door for the fear that these Sikhs might be terrorists! But 210
Q
Sharad Joshi : Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage
