Home calling: Farmers dismantle tents, load trucks

With farmers ending their over a year-long agitation, the protesters on Thursday started dismantling tents and collecting their items from Singhu border, which had become their home away from home, even as some of them started leaving Ghazipur border despite the Samyukta Kisan Union giving a call for their departure from December 11.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) earlier announced the suspension of the agitation and said farmers will head home from December 11 from protests sites on Delhi's borders.

The announcement came after the SKM received an official letter from the central government, accepting the pending demands of farmers, including unconditional withdrawal of police cases against the protesters.

Farmer leaders said they would meet on January 15 to see if the demands have been met by the government, asserting that this is not the end of the movement.

At the protest sites, farmers were seen dismantling their tents, packing their bags and loading daily use items into trucks to prepare for their journey back home after the victory march on December 11.

A farmer from Punjab's Moga who had been stationed at Singhu border for the last one year said, "We used to come here in groups of 15. Today, we are loading our things like fans, coolers and air conditioners. We will leave on December 11 after the victory march.

"We made Prime Minister Narendra Modi agree to our demands. Had he agreed earlier, almost 700 farmers would not have died during the movement. But we are happy that our struggle has bore fruit," he said.

Nirvair Singh, a 60-year-old protester from Punjab, said, "It took 10 people around two hours to dismantle everything. There were 19 of us who had come here and six of us are left now, while others have gone back. We used to come here for 10 days and then go back and then return. We are going to be celebrating our victory and then go back to our homes."

At Ghazipur, machines like bread makers and milk boilers will be removed from Thursday night with many protesters starting the journey back home on Thursday itself. They said it will take a few more days to remove the temporary structures and accommodations at the Ghazipur site.

Emotions were high as farmers celebrated their victory and planned to light 'diyas' (candles) for those who lost their lives during the protest, before they leave the place. They also rendered special prayers thanking the Almighty for support during their protest.

The protesters also said that they won't sleep Thursday night and will celebrate their hard-earned victory.