COURTESY HT NOV 17

Wedding procession gives fillip to farmers’ stir

Members of a wedding procession holding farm union flags at Retgarh village in Sangrur on Monday. ht photo
Avtar Singh

avtar.singh1@htlive.com

SANGRUR : If not for the traditionally attired groom, it would have looked as any other march being taken out by farmers protesting against central agricultural legislations in various parts of Punjab.

Holding flags of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) — one of the 30 farm bodies up in arms in the state — Jashanjeet Singh’s wedding procession marched through his village Retgarh, 22 kilometers from Sangrur, before proceeding to his bride’s town on Monday.

Harnek Singh, Jashanjeet’s father and head of the union in the village, said that he is making a statement against the Centre’s “anti-farmer policies” while celebrating his son’s wedding. “We will keep fighting against the Modi government, which is trying to give our land to corporate houses,” he said.

Some guests were taken by surprise, but appreciated the move, saying the union flags had become a part of their “happiness and sorrows”.

Meanwhile, thousands of farmers continue to sit on dharnas outside railway stations and at toll plazas in Sangrur and Barnala districts, as in other parts of the state.