NEW DELHI: Amarinder Singh of Ropar was busy getting the loudspeaker on his tractor repaired. After days of blaring out songs of protest and revolution, the tractor will play a different tune on New Year’s Eve, one of celebration rather than dissent. Amarinder, 24, said, “The aim is to emulate the New Year’s Eve we celebrate every year in our villages. It is for the success of our protest.”
Prabhjot Singh ‘Jahaz’, the kabaddi coach who has set up base at the mall near the protest site, are similarly enthused by 2021 making its entry. “We will cut cakes to welcome the new year and also celebrate the birthday of a couple of fellow coaches who have come here to perform seva,” he said, adding, rather ominously, “We will show the central government how to party. They think we are in a bad shape in this cold, but this party will signify how high our confidence is.”
Unlike them, many at the Singhu border plan to keep New Year’s Eve a sombre event spent in prayers, with celebrations only when the farm Acts are repealed. “We came here to protest, not to party,” said Sukhpreet Singh, a BSc student from Fazilka. Satvinder Singh of Jalandhar added, “We will most likely conduct a paathto pray for our victory, so that we can return home in triumph in the new year.”
Ramesh Kumar of Sonipat prepared the whole afternoon for traditional songs to sing at night, particularly in folk Haryanvi Ragni. “These songs are about patriotism and about our Haryanvi culture. We will entertain the protestors with songs that have an uplifting message,” he said.