Dallewal fast: Police, govt rep go to ‘inquire about his health’; Vinesh Phogat too

Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav, accompanied by a director in the ministry of home affairs, Mayank Mishra, arrived on Sunday (15 December) to meet farmers' leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who is on a fast unto death to press the Centre to accept the demands of the agricultural community. They enquired about his health.

The 70-year-old Dallewal, a cancer patient, has been on a fast unto death at the Khanauri border between Punjab and Haryana since 26 November to press the Centre to accept the agitating farmers' demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP for crops.

Speaking to reporters, Yadav said, "We came to enquire about the health of Dallewal."

As the Government of India's representative, Mayank Mishra was specially sent here, he added.

Deputy inspector general (DIG) of police Mandeep Singh Sidhu, Patiala senior superintendent of police (SP) Nanak Singh and Patiala deputy commissioner Preeti Yadav were also present during the meeting at the Khanauri border point.

Before reaching the protest site, Yadav also held a meeting with other farmers' leaders, including Sukhjit Singh Hardojhande and Kaka Singh Kotda.

DGP Yadav's meeting came two days after the Supreme Court directed the Centre and Punjab government representatives to immediately meet Dallewal.

The court had instructed the authorities to provide medical support and persuade him to break his indefinite fast, saying his life was precious.

Doctors have already recommended hospitalisation for Dallewal, saying that because of the prolonged fast, he has grown weak.

Congress MLA Vinesh Phogat also arrived to meet Dallewal, separately, and said the government was all talk — and only talk.

"There is no greater sorrow than this. Dallewal, who is both a determined elder and a leader we need, has been left in such a state by the government," Phogat said.

"There is a difference between talking and implementing," she added, referring to the government's and its representatives' assurances in Parliament and elsewhere. "Today, an elderly person is sitting there starving, while suffering from cancer. He has even lost his wife. Yet, he is fighting for our future and struggling immensely."

Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who is also the chairperson of the All India Kissan Congress, had also met Dallewal a couple of days ago, on 13 December, and had harsh words for the Bhagwant Mann-led BJP government in the state in particular.

He said in an X post recording the visit: 'We must remember that the farmers particularly Punjab not only made India self resilient [sic] in food grains but it's their children in [the] defence forces guarding our international borders.'

Farmers under the banner of the SKM (Samyukt Kisan Morcha – Non-Political) and the KMM (Kisan Majdoor Morcha) have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since 13 February 2024, when their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces. They have repeatedly attempted to resume their Delhi Chalo march as well.

Dallewal himself leads the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU). Today is the 19th day of his hunger strike to amplify the Indian farmers' demands, expressed through several regional and national collectives.

Besides a legal guarantee of a minimum support price (MSP) for crops, the farmers are demanding debt waivers, pensions for farmers and farm labourers, a moratorium on hiking electricity tariffs, withdrawal of police cases against several who were involved in protests during the movement against the (now repealed) farm laws during the Covid lockdown, and justice for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

Reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during the previous agitation in 2020–21 are also among their demands.

With IANS and PTI inputs