The city of Delhi can be an unfriendly place for those who have no friends or place to call home. But one such group, the Tamil Nadu farmers protesting at Jantar Mantar, have found themselves the surprised recipients of great generosity from the volunteers at the Bangla Sahib Gurudwara.
Every day, volunteers from Bangla Sahib provide the farmers with langar, ensuring that the protesters do not have to go hungry.
Snigdha Basu wrote for NDTV that despite the Gurudwara having no connection with the protest, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has opened their kitchens to the distraught farmers, who have been agitating in the capital for over 100 days now.
Manjit Singh, DSGMC president, told NDTV that they were delivering langar to the farmers twice a day. He added that they have they would have provided the farmers with lodging too, but the latter haven’t asked for it.
At Bangla Sahib, volunteers work round the clock to make food like chapatis, dal, vegetable and kheer for anyone in need. And while the Gurudwara initially served the same food to the protesting farmers, they soon realised that the farmers preferred rice over chapatis, and began serving them rice as well.
“After all, this is Guru ka Langar and we don't discriminate. Some consider it our allegiance to their protest but no, we are just serving those who seek Guru's help," Singh said.
R Perumal, one of the leaders of the Tamil Farmers Association, expressed his gratitude to the volunteers and called them “godsent”.
The protesting farmers had come to Delhi after Tamil Nadu experienced one of its worst droughts in recent decades, with a 60% deficit in rainfall in the state. Their demands from the central government include a loan waiver, a pension of Rs 5,000 to farmers over the age of 60, crop insurance, and a Rs 40,000 crore relief package.
The farmers had generated a lot of attention and support for their protests with a number of unusual demonstrations representing how desperate their plight had become. They had demonstrated with dead snakes and rats in their mouths, shaved off half their mustaches, rolled on the ground near Jantar Mantar, conducted mock funerals, displayed the skulls of farmer’s who had killed themselves, and even drank their own urine.
The farmers had earlier suspended their protest on April 23 after a meeting with the TN Chief Minister Edapaddi Palanisamy. He had assured them that their demands would be taken up with Prime Ministrer Narendra Modi. However, they returned to Delhi to resume their protests on July 17 when their demands weren’t met.