By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi: Members of various Catholic religious congregations have spent time with the protesting farmers in the national capital to assure support and solidarity.
“We told them that we are with them and are praying for them. We assured them that the Lord will give them victory,” said Sister Inigo Joachim, the former superior general of the Sisters of St Ann’s Congregation, who led the religious to the farmers in December.
The senior nun, who has spent 14 years in working in Tihar Jail in Delhi, the largest prison complex in South Asia, says she gets the inspiration to work for social cause while praying.
“Actually prayers disturb me. I feel that I need to translate my prayers into action. Otherwise, the prayer remains mere ritual,“ explained Sister Inigo, a native of Tamil Nadu.
Sister Inigo not only inspired members of her community but other religious congregations in Delhi too to come forward to express solidarity with the farmers’ protest and spend a day with them, in the biting winter cold.
“The farmers are happy when they see us. We were a group of like-minded people who wanted to listen to their stories and share their agony. It is a human right issue,” Sister Inigo said.
Sister Inigo further says: “When we love everyone in compassion, we want to do justice to them. It is not possible for us not to question when we see tyranny and injustice. Seeking God and sharing our God-experience will not alienate us from responding to human concerns. We cannot remain merely pious and holy within ourselves.”
The religious in Delhi also provided about 500 sleeping bags to the homeless in the pavements of Delhi around Christmas celebration.
India’s mainline Churches have steered clear of the farmers’ protest that entered 34th day on December 29. Hundreds of thousands of farmers from neighboring states of the national capital are camping at different entry points to Delhi.
The farmers are protesting against three farm laws the Indian Parliament passed in September 2020. Farmer unions and opposition parties describe the acts as “anti-farmer laws” that would leave farmers at the mercy of corporates. The government, however, maintains that they will make it effortless for farmers to sell their produce directly to big buyers, and allege the protests are based on misinformation.
The unions began protests first in Punjab soon after the acts were introduced. After two months of protests, farmer unions from Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana started a movement named “Dilli Chalo” (Let’s go to Delhi).
The federal government ordered the police and law enforcement of various states to attack the farmer unions using water cannons, batons, tear gas and rocks in an effort to prevent the farmer unions from entering Haryana first and then Delhi. On November 26, a nationwide general strike was held and approximately 250 million people joined it in support of the farmer unions.