Christian women express horror at Delhi border fortification

By Matters India Reporter

New Delhi: A national body of Catholic and Protestant women leaders has urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to heed the protesting farmers’ demand and repeal the three recently enacted farm laws.

“Our farmers have never failed our nation through the last 71 years. Please do not fail them now,” pleads a letter from the Indian Christian Women Movement addressed to the prime minister as the farmers’ protests on the Delhi borders entered 70th day on February 3.

The movement expressed shock over the January 26 events in New Delhi when thousands of protesters broke through barricades and clashed with the police.

At the same time, the women says they watch with horror how the protest sites outside Delhi’s borders are being fortified with barbed wires, cement barriers and spikes on the roads. They also point out that wooden batons in the hands of the police have been replaced with steel batons.

“Are we fighting India’s enemies with such a display of power or the citizens of this country who are trying in vain to reach out to their government?” asks the letter signed by ICWM national convener Aruna Gnanadason and her team members.

Their letter says the government passed the three farm laws hurriedly without following due constitutional and democratic procedure.

The farmers on Delhi’s borders protested peacefully, braving the bitter cold through December 2020 and January 2021, the Christian women point out.

“The Delhi police had agreed to an alternate celebration of people’s nationalism with a tractor display by the farmers, immediately after the government display of India’s military power in the official Republic Day celebration. The tractor rally was also peaceful until miscreants were let loose upon them on Jan 26 to tarnish their reputation for exemplary non-violent resistance,” the Christian women assert.

Their movement now wants the government to repeal the laws and formulate new laws in consultation with the farmers’ representatives.

The Christian women also want the government to compensate the farmers for the time lost from agricultural activity.

Another demand is a fair and impartial investigation into the collapse of law and order in the national capital on Republic Day.

They also want the police to drop immediately all “false cases” registered against protesters and journalists and resolve problems by “breaking barriers rather than by building new ones.”

The Christian women hail farmers as the backbone of the country’s economy. “No farmers, no food. It’s extremely critical that we listen to our farmers as they share their concerns on how the 3 laws will affect them, as well as all of us, who rely on them for our staple diet.”

Observing that several rounds of talks have failed, the women ask: “Is it too much to ask our Prime Minister to meet the people who till the land and feed the country, listen to their grievances and consider a roll-back?”

“The farmers expected nothing less than understanding and sensitivity from their government. At the end of the day the law is made for humanity and not humanity for the law. The farmers with dignity have continued to insist that their protest will be sustained till the laws are repealed,” the letter adds.

“As a Christian women’s group, we would like to highlight the innumerable hardships faced by women farmers who are working shoulder to shoulder in the farm sector, facing many challenges and equally demanding repeal of the laws. Today as the barricades deny them basic access to clean water for cooking, bathing and their basic needs, these women face intense hardships merely for exercising their democratic right to protest.”