Blinding rain amid a bitter winter buffeted the protesting farmers at the capital’s borders on Sunday, which served to underscore the government’s perceived nonchalance towards the food providers to the nation and its alleged “thakao aur bhagao (tire out and drive away)” strategy.

The farmers kept their chin up and braved the inclement weather and the indifferent government — their resolve highlighted by a video clip of two women standing in the rain on Saturday and becoming a rallying point for others when one of the women raised slogans against the Narendra Modi government.

On Sunday, as the farmers scrambled to repair and reposition tents that bore the brunt of the rain and several bonfires were lit to keep them warm, their spirits were kept up by a 12-team kabbadi tournament at the Singhu border.

The rain began around 5am and continued for hours, washing away some tents, leaving the farmers’ beds and luggage drenched, and leaving the langars struggling to cook and serve meals amid the water-logging.

Abhimanyu Kohar, a member of the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha, said the farmers had waterproof tents but these could not protect them from the biting cold and the water-logging.

“The situation is very bad at the protest sites because of the rain, which has caused water-logging. It’s so cold now after the rain but the government can’t see our misery,” he said.

Gurwinder Singh, who is camping at the Singhu Border, told PTI that some places got water-logged because the civic facilities were not up to the mark. But he asserted that the weather would not break the farmers’ resolve.

Veerpal Singh, a protesting farmer, said the agitators’ blankets, clothes and firewood were soaked.

“Our clothes are soaked. Besides, we are finding it difficult to cook food as the rainwater has also soaked our firewood. We do have an LPG cylinder but not everyone here has it,” he said.

Protesting at the Ghazipur border, Dharmveer Yadav said: “We are ready to face any problem, be it heavy rain or a storm, but we will not leave this place until our demands are met.”

Amid silence at the helm of the executive leadership, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi spoke up for the farmers and expressed anguish at their distress.

In a statement, Sonia asked the government to immediately grant the farmers’ demands and end their suffering.

Mincing no words, the Congress leader said: “Over 50 farmers have lost their lives during the protests because of the government’s apathy so far. Some took the extreme step of committing suicide. But that has failed to move the government and none, including the Prime Minister, has uttered a word of sympathy for them.”

Three more protesting farmers have died, PTI quoted police as saying on Sunday. Shamsher Singh, 45, and Jashandeep Singh, 18, were from Punjab and Jagbir Singh, 60, was from Haryana. All three were protesting at Delhi’s borders.

Sonia said the country had never before had a government so insensitive to the miseries of the farmer and the common man.

“Governments and leaders who show disregard for people’s feelings cannot rule for a long time. It is clear that the farmers won’t surrender to the government’s ‘thakao aur bhagao’ strategy,” she said.

“The true tribute to the farmers who lost their lives and the spirit of rajdharma (a ruler’s duties) will be to shed arrogance and withdraw the three black laws. The purpose of democracy is to protect the rights of people and farmers, and the government must concede the demands and end the agitation now.”

Rahul Gandhi warned the country against a “Champaran-like tragedy”, comparing Modi’s capitalist friends to the British East India Company.

British planters had forced tenant farmers in Bihar’s Champaran district to grow indigo against little payment, triggering resentment and paving the way for Mahatma Gandhi to launch his first Satyagraha movement from there in 1917.

“The country is once again going to suffer a Champaran-like tragedy. Then it was English Company Bahadur, now it is Modi-mitr Company Bahadur,” Rahul, who had earlier too likened the farmers’ movement to the freedom struggle, tweeted.

“But every single farmer from this movement is a satyagrahi (campaigner for truth) who will fight for his right, come what may.”

Rahul said: “The government which was not ready to guarantee MSP to farmers gave guaranteed revenues to its capitalist friends to run storage facilities. Government mandis are either being closed or food grains are not being procured. Why this apathy towards farmers and sympathy towards suit-boot friends?”

Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said the Narendra Modi government had struck a deal in advance with the Adani group for storage of food grains.

He said Adani companies had in a presentation before the National Stock Exchange in 2016 anticipated long-term contracts with huge margins and this was what eventually happened.

“Adani Agri Logistics Limited (AALL) has been awarded an exclusive service agreement with the Food Corporation of India for storage of food grains. Revenues are guaranteed as the 30-year contract is linked to inflation,” he said.

“Most of the contracts have been awarded to AALL from 2016 onwards. Eight projects are operational and nine projects were under construction as on March 31, 2018. AALL handles lakhs of metric tonnes of food grain for FCI in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh and has also expanded its footprints in Bihar, UP and Gujarat.”

Vallabh said the Centre was refusing to procure the promised quantity of paddy from Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh.

“Despite a pre-intimation by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to procure 60 lakh metric tonnes of rice, Chhattisgarh has not received a final consent. The Chhattisgarh government has procured 47 lakh tonnes so far,” he said.

“This would impact close to 21.52 lakh farmers. Has the FCI halted procurement in Chhattisgarh because their suit-boot friends are not involved in managing storage in Chhattisgarh, and will the procurement only start when their friends get control of storage?”

Haryana police fire tear smoke canisters

Haryana police on Sunday evening fired tear smoke canisters at agitating farmers at Masani barrage in Rewari district to thwart their march towards Delhi. The farmers had broken police barricades near Bhudla Sangwari village and started moving towards Delhi.

“We have stopped them at Masani,” Rewari SP Abhishek Jorwal said over the phone. The farmers had been camping on a service lane off the Delhi-Jaipur highway for the past few days, the police said.

PTI report