Begampura is here

By Randeep Maddoke | Trolley Times |

A lot more is happening at the protest site besides the struggle against the Farm Laws. People have converted their trolleys on roadsides into temporary homes. They can be seen doing all the household chores in that space. This new city has its own rhythm of everyday life.

Our team of photographers is capturing all this on cameras and making it available on the social media platforms without any claim to copyright. We are supporting this movement from the inside rather than from the outside. If some people are fighting with a flag in their hands, we are fighting here with cameras in our hands.

The sole motive of the residents of this new city is to make the stubborn and shameless Brahmanical government accept our demands. The struggle for a common cause has brought all sections of the society together and minimized conflicts between the landed peasantry and landless Labourers. These united protests help people understand that our fight is towards those who want to divide us and take advantage.

The farm Labourers do not have the means like the farmers to join the protest for a long period of time and in great numbers. But many farm Labourers have travelled to the protest site in the vehicles of other small farmers. They are living and sleeping in the same space. They are making use of each other’s blankets and quilts.

Ravidas ji’s Begampura has emerged here, a space where no differences exist. No one is poor, no one is rich. No one is small and no one is big. No one is upper caste, and no is lower caste. No one asks who is providing, who is cooking, and who is eating. These differences are absent in this protest.

(Source: Trolley Times, 21 April 2021. The newsletter is brought out by like minded people – writers, artists, and activists – in support of the Kisan Morcha)

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