CHANDIGARH/NEW DELHI: Beijing Olympics bronze medallist boxer Vijender Singh on Sunday joined a long list of national award winners who threatened to return their awards if the demands of the agitating farmers weren’t met.
Supporting farmers protesting at Singhu border, the 35-year-old boxer who unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from South Delhi on a Congress ticket, said his long association with Punjab had brought him to the protest site. “I totally support the farmers’ demands and the entire country should back them because they are the lifeline of the country. Without them, we can’t live for a day,” he added.
Threatening to return the country’s highest sporting honour, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, which he was awarded in 2009, Singh appealed to fellow sportspersons across the country to join the “revolution”.
“I got the award for making the country proud in the international arena, but the way the government is dealing with the farmers is unacceptable. The government should withdraw the black laws otherwise I will return the award and the benefits that I got along with it,” Singh insisted.
At Singhu border, the farmers and their supporters were seen coming up with new ways to draw the attention of the central government, which included conducting marches holding placards saying “We are farmers, not terrorists”, to making creative posters in Punjabi.
Lakhwinder Singh, a farmer, said, “With our silent protest at Singhu border entering the eleventh day on Sunday, we are adopting different ways to pressure the government into agreeing to our demands. We will return to our villages only when the three farm laws are withdrawn.”
The younger farmers were seen coming up with songs to encourage and entertain other protesters.