Bathinda, December 13
It’s almost 7 am on a foggy December morning at the Bathinda railway junction. Hardeep Singh (24), a farmer from Pathrala village in the district, is seated on a bench next to the ticket counter, reading a vernacular newspaper as a flag of the BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) rests on his shoulder.
Seated across him, wrapped in shawls, 65-year-old Buta Singh from Machhana village and 50-year-old Kuldeep Sharma from Virk Khurd village along with other farmers left from their respective villages even before the dawn struck to reach the station. Buta Singh, while sipping tea to keep the biting cold at bay, is busy discussing the Union Government’s “adamant stance” over the new agricultural laws. Half an hour into their conversation, farmers carrying luggage and flags of their respective unions start converging on the platform to catch the next train to join their counterparts at the Tikri border in Delhi.
