Many bear posters carrying the photo of Dallewal, and the message, ‘Assi Jagjit Singh Dallewal Haan (We are all Jagjit Singh Dallewal)’.
Several efforts by the farmers parked in Khanauri to cross into Haryana, on their way to Delhi, have been forcefully put down. The government hasn’t budged from its stand that it is not possible to give a legal guarantee for MSP either. However, Dallewal says he won’t be giving up his fast.

His faint voice rising as he calls legalised MSP a “must”, he says he feels even more motivated after 22 days of the fast. “Is vaar aar-paar di ladhai hai (This time it is a do-or-die battle),” he tells The Indian Express.

Dallewal, who is part of the over three-decade-old Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU)-Sidhupur, participated in the year-long farmer protest at Delhi border in 2020-21. He later parted ways with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which spearheaded the protest, over the latter’s decision to contest elections, and is now the coordinator of the SKM (Non-Political).

Gurmeet Singh (58), a farmer from Chottian village in Muktsar district, who is now camped at the Khanauri border, says there were very few protesters around initially. “Then, on the intervening night of November 25 and November 26, hours before he was to start his hunger strike, Dallewal ji was whisked away by the Patiala police and forcibly admitted to hospital. Only after farmers protested at this action by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was Dallewalji discharged on November 29… After this, farmers here started growing in numbers each day.”

Now the protest site resembles that of the year-long strike, dotted with LPG cylinders and gas stoves on which tea or food is being made, nylon wires strung between trolleys on which clothes are drying, makeshift bathrooms made of aluminium sheets, and langars set up by villagers from across districts.

Kirtan is held daily for two hours to keep the spirits up, in the absence of any speeches. The amount of water used is strictly regulated, as it has to be hauled from nearly 6 km away.

The line of trolleys leads up to a stage, behind which is the camper in which Dallewal has been living. Nearly 20 youths carrying sticks stand on guard outside.

Among them are Karandeep Singh, 23, and Gurpiar Singh, 34, both from Dallewal’s native Faridkot district. They let visitors in only after getting a clearance from Dallewal. Shoes and socks have to be left outside, masks worn, and a generous amount of hand sanitizer applied before one is let in, to ensure that no infections are passed on to Dallewal. There are two more attendants inside.

Apart from a covered dustbin, Dallewal’s tent holds hair oil, comb, toothpaste and a bar of soap, placed atop an air-conditioner fit along one wall. A battery-charged bulb gives a dim light.

Dallewal says that in the first few days of the strike, he regularly addressed the protesting farmers, but now weakness has caught hold. His aides insist that all he has been having is boiled water, “about 2 litres a day”.

For the past five days, one of his attendants has been taking down his message to farmers on “why MSP is important”. In one of these, which he shares with The Indian Express, Dallewal claims: “We can move towards diversification if there is a legal guarantee for MSP for all crops.”

Diversification of crops is seen as the primary solution to Punjab’s agrarian crisis, with its water tables seeing a steep fall due to overdependence on paddy.

Near Dallewal’s tent, a group of women from Phool village in Bathinda have newly arrived and are settling down, with Charanjit Kaur, who is in her 60s, busy making a mud chulha. “Assi Modi de sataye hoye haan (We are victims of Prime Minister Modi),” says Karamjit Kaur, a member of BKU.

Just before the Haryana border, the farmers have parked tractors and put up barbed wires to ensure no one among them tries to cross over on their own. “At times, a few get angry over the government’s approach,” says a BKU member.

Dallewal’s visitors over the past few days have included Sikh religious leaders, Tarsem Singh (the father of alleged Khalistani activist and Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh, who is in jail), and leaders of the Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal and AAP.

On Thursday, Dallewal will get his first BJP visitor, senior farmer leader Sukhmander Grewal. Asked about his surprise decision, Grewal told The Indian Express: “His demands should be heard and the Centre should initiate talks with him soon.”

AAP chief spokesperson and Anandpur Sahib MP Malwinder Singh Kang, who visited Dallewal Monday, passed the buck onto the Centre. “The Punjab government is trying to ensure that the Government of India opens doors for talks with farmers. We are concerned about Dallewal ji’s health. Nothing can be more unfortunate than farmers not being allowed to go to the national capital of Delhi.”

Anxious over the situation, the state government has ensured that a team of doctors from Rajindra Medical College and Hospital, Patiala, inspects him daily. For his prostate cancer, Dallewal claims to be only under Ayurvedic treatment.

To ensure that Dallewal is not taken away again, BKU member Rattan Singh says, they have people guarding him night and day. “Even at night, nearly a thousand people roam the morcha site.” Rattan Singh adds that many of them have told Dallewal to give up the fast, that his life was more important “for the many struggles ahead”. “But he says that if by his sacrifice, Punjab farmers can get their rights, he is ready for it.”

“MSP is just one demand… There is tardy lifting of paddy, pest attacks on crops, shortage of fertilisers…,” says Ranjit Singh, another BKU member.