New Delhi: With farmers sitting at Singhu Border for almost 87 days now and the winter months having passed them by, preparations to sit throughout the long and dry north Indian summer have started.
The farmers who have been protesting against the three farm bills since November 26 at various borders have come to a deadlock with the Centre government, with no conclusion in sight and farmer leaders even hinting at risking missing one season of the harvest to press on with their demands.
To ease the life of farmers at the border, fans and refrigerators have started being set up with the onset of the summer season. "We have brought fans as of now while air conditioners will also be set up in tents," farm leader from Punjab Balwant Singh told Millennium Post.
He also said that special refrigerators have also been brought to store food and dairy products. "We are going to be here for a long time and the preparations for summer have already started. If this government thinks it can remove us then it needs to think twice," he added.
People have started setting up stool fans in their trolleys as well. "If we can fight the harsh winters what is summer? Our demands remain the same and if we have to die here we will but moving is not an option," Balbeer Singh from Punjab's Moga said.
The heat is already harsh during the daytime, but the farmers' determination to sit through it does not seem deterred. Shelter points have also been created at the border. Covers have been set up under the trees so that protesters can find some shade. "Right now it is not too bad, but the coming days are going to be harsh. We will accordingly plan what is to be done," Balwant Singh added.
Even as the crowd has thinned, people have been travelling to and fro between their villages and the protest sites. "One person is sitting for one week and the other is coming. The cycle then continues," a protester said.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police Commissioner, cornered over the treatment of protesting farmers, asserted that there was "no intelligence failure" on their part on Republic Day and insisted that it was the farmers who had betrayed the authorities.
And even as the police's summons to farmer leaders remain unanswered and the Republic Day "conspiracy" gets more traction under the "toolkit" probe, Commissioner SN Shrivastava refused to answer any questions on Disha Ravi's arrest or the toolkit case.
He, however, said, "We have arrested 152 people in connection with Republic Day violence. Some may not
want to join the probe but it is not up to their will. Farmer leaders have responded to the notices served to them," he said.