Continuing the fight for Indian farmers
Local women and families joined together on Saturday at a Yuba City park to support the farming industry and what they say is an injustice done to the small farmer at the hands of the Parliament of India.
The Parliament of India passed three bills in September 2020 that opposition groups have called “anti-farmer” and likened them to a “death warrant,” according to a report from BBC. com. Thousands of farmers have been camped out on highways in Delhi demanding a repeal of the legislation.
Harjit Uppal, a local teacher with the Yuba City Unified School District, organized
Saturday’s rally to say, simply, that “We’re here to support you.”
“This is encouragement for my brothers and sister in India,” Uppal said. “They have been sitting on the roads for months and the government is not doing anything.”
Uppal, a native of India, said this issue remains near and dear to her heart because India is her homeland and she cares for everybody there.
“This is all we talk about,” Uppal said. “I am from India, I am from a farming family. I feel the pain.”
Many on Saturday who showed up to Blackburn Talley Sports Complex in Yuba City were in agreement, including a few younger voices who spoke at the rally.
Simranjot Kaur, a high school student at River Valley High School, said it was time to let her voice be heard. Kaur said she has an uncle in India who gets up each morning at 2 a.m. to protect his land from potential cattle raiders. She said farmers in India work around the clock to simply feed their families.
“The (Parliament of India) is threatening their livelihood,” Kaur said.
Kaur, who immigrated to the U.S. as a child, said her message is that “we have rights” and can make a difference by working together.
The green garments that Kaur and several others donned over their outfits symbolized the fields that farmers work each day to better themselves and their families.
Lakhvir Kaur, a Yuba
City resident who also immigrated from India as a child, said farming is a vital component to the world, including to those threatening to impede it.
“Farming feeds all of us,” Kaur said. “It’s a worldwide issue.”