HISTORY IN THE MAKING

United we stand and together we roar! In full fury! As does our caravan of mean machines – our humble tractors! This is history in the making and a Republic Day Parade with a difference. We are living through history that our future generations will read and draw inspiration from. The whole nation is resonating with dissent and is set to witness a ginormous tractor rally – the first and the largest ever, tomorrow, on January 26th, apparently and ironically our Republic Day!

With lakhs of tractors set to participate, this is the biggest ever tractor parade that India would see and the world would watch. Our farmers, who have been protesting at the Singhu and other borders in Delhi for two months, decided to hold the tractor rally after several rounds of negotiations with the Centre had failed to resolve the issue of repelling the contentious farm bills. The date – January 26 – was picked to mark the completion of two months for the “Delhi Chalo” protest, which started on November 26.

This development of the tractor rally came after the farmers rejected the government’s offer of putting the laws on hold for 18 months, demanding a complete repeal.

The farmers opposing the farm laws have been holed up at different border points across Delhi — Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur — as they continue to hold talks with the Modi government over their grievances with the three new legislations. In sync with the peaceful protests so far, the farmers’ union has reached an agreement with the Delhi Police to carry out the tractor march peacefully on Republic Day. The Delhi police has approved total routes spanning up to 170 km out of which 100 km will fall in Delhi.

While our bravehearts from Punjab are all set with gusto, this rally will see participation from other states too. Thousands of tractors from Punjab, Haryana, the Terai region of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh have already left for the borders. It’s heartening to see women driving some of the tractors showcasing both empowerment as well as support.

In a Republic, people are supreme. The rally has been organized on Republic Day to remind the centre that farmers are a part of the Republic set up and their lives and livelihoods should matter. While the future generations get to see history that they will eventually study, this Government also needs to revise civics, especially the chapter on democracy.

Written By : Adarsh Gill Brar