Mandis quiet as farmers busy in rural elections

As polling booths saw a huge rush during the panchayat elections today, with farmers from the village actively participating in the voting, no hustle bustle of farmers could be seen in mandis on the other hand.

Even Monday saw comparatively less rush of farmers in the main grain market. In Jandiala Manjki, Jaskaran Singh, a 35-year-old farmer, said nobody would find farmers in the mandis. “Ajj saare busy ne elections vich. Kal nu milange (Everyone is busy in the elections today, you will meet them all tomorrow in the mandis,”) he said.

Another farmer Rajinder Singh said the elections were important for the farmers as well. “Even we are going to sit at the booth and support our candidate,” he said. The arrival of the paddy will increase manifold the next day of the elections, say farmers.

“This is our profession,” Harpreet Singh, farmer from Lidhran village said. “And that is our ‘Ghar da kamm,’” Singh referred to ‘panchayat elections. For the farmers, both are integral part, he said. Harpreet Singh was accompanied by his fellow village farmers Gurnam Singh and Lakhbir Singh at the grain market. All of them shared the same sentiments.

In most villages, candidates for the posts of sarpanch were mostly farmers or belong to farmer families. Farmer Davinder Singh from Nawanshahr said he had not harvested paddy yet as he was waiting for the situation in mandis to get normalise and panchayat elections to get over. “We have to stand in support of our candidates. It is a mammoth task right now, but there is tension because we don’t know the fate of our produce,” he said.

In Bundala village, an arhtiya was seen sitting alone. He said hardly one or two farmers came. “There will be a huge rush tomorrow,” he said.