This is a poem on the ongoing farmer struggle in India; which has involved a lot of police brutality – including the arrest and sexual torture of young Trade Union activist Nodeep Kaur by the Haryana police; all because she showed support to the farmers and demanded the unpaid wages of 300 workers in Kundli. Here is the content:

We have watched and watched

For days and days

Weeks and weeks

Our farmers protesting day and night

Across villages, towns, cities and states

Against so-called market reforms

That actually favour the rich and the powerful

Leaving the farmers entirely at their mercy

We have watched and watched

Swift action from our government

Not to help the farmers

But rather, to put hurdles in their path

We have watched and watched

The farmers defiantly crossing these hurdles

And braving the extreme cold of north India

For us, it may be a mere drama

But for them, it is a matter of life and death

We have watched and watched

The media seizing the opportunity

To turn the farmers’ struggle

Into their own gains

From Times Now to Republic

From India Today to News18

From Mirror Now to NDTV

All have indulged in lies and half-truths

In order to divert the focus

Away from the farm laws

And into Khalistanis, China and what not

And thus shamelessly boost their TRPs

We have watched and watched

The police, raining blows upon blows

On the brave, unflinching farmers

Who refuse to cede an inch

Even as the death toll mounts

We have watched and watched

The arrest and sexual torture

Of a young Trade Union activist

Based on totally fabricated charges

By the notorious Haryana police

Only because she showed her support

For the farmers’ movement

All in all,

We have watched and watched

An alarming rise in atrocities

Inflicted upon the beleaguered farmers

And yet we continue to pretend

That this is an internal matter

We have watched and watched

And the time has come for us

To speak out and show unconditional support

To our farmers

In their seemingly never-ending struggle

Against the government and the industrialists

It really is now or never