Pune braveheart fights for farmer rights

A fighter by birth, farmer activist Bant Singh has literally faced death and lived to tell the tale.

A Dalit farmer-singer from Jhabar village in Mansa district in Punjab, Singh is the president of the farmers' association of the CPI (ML-Liberation) party in Punjab.

In Pune with his co-workers to spread the word about his work, Bant interacted with the media on Monday.

Singh's activism had cost him his limbs as he had taken the cudgels to fight against the atrocities of the upper caste farmers in his village. It was the brutal rape of his minor daughter in 2000, by powerful upper caste men in his village, which compelled Singh to throw his hat in the field of activism.

He dared to take on the might of the establishment and took the men to the court. It was his fighting spirit, which ensured that the upper caste men were handed out life sentences, an event which was unheard of in the upper caste dominated society Singh hailed from.

In 2006, Singh was attacked by a gang of seven, who mercilessly hacked his limbs off and left him to die. The immediate reason for this attack was Singh's campaign for the rights of farmers and labourers. He survived the attack and is now a beacon of strength and hope for thousands of farmers and oppressed across the country.

In Pune to express his solidarity with the cause of farmers and labourers, Singh said that in spite of the setbacks his fighting spirit remains strong.

"We are ready to take the cause of the farmers anywhere in the country," he said.