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08-12-2020
By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report
NEW DELHI/ ISLAMABAD: Sikh farmers in India on Monday demonstrated religious solidarity at the farmers’ protest by standing up with their Muslim counterparts.
In a video shared on Twitter by Indian journalist Rana Ayyub, some Muslim participants at the farmer’s protest in Delhi could be seen offering prayers on the street.
Meanwhile, Sikh farmers who were in majority could be seen standing at the site, encircling the Muslim farmers so that they could offer their prayers in peace.
In a show of solidarity, Sikh farmers stopped all their activities and stood there in silence so as not to disturb the Namaziz.
“This made me emotional. Sikh brothers standing in solidarity with Muslims while they offer namaz at the farmers’ protest,” Ayyub wrote on Twitter.
For the past few weeks, more than 300,000 farmers from India’s Punjab province have been staging protests in Delhi against the government’s new central farm laws. Farmers opine that the legislation contains “contentious provisions” and are demanding the government revise it as it goes against their interests.
Agriculture makes up nearly 15% of India’s $2.9-trillion economy and employs around half of its 1.3 billion people.
Farmers fear the legislation will eventually dismantle India’s regulated markets and stop the government from buying wheat and rice at guaranteed prices, leaving them to negotiate with private buyers.
On the other hand, the country’s BJP-led union government says the new laws are meant to overhaul antiquated procurement procedures and give growers from all over India more options to sell their produce.
Since the government and farmers could not reach a settlement, farmers have threatened to continue their protests until their demands are met.
