For 17 months, Gurjeet Singh Khalsa has been living atop a cellphone tower in Punjab’s Patiala district – a sheet of tarpaulin over his head, and a blanket and a pistol for company – to demand a strict law against sacrilege of Sikh religious objects and beliefs.

It has been a difficult – and somewhat lonely – protest. “I have put on a lot of weight because I cannot move in this cramped space,” the 43-year-old protester told Scroll in a telephone interview from the tower. “I have been diagnosed with high blood sugar, and cholesterol.”

But last month, ahead of a Punjab Assembly session, Khalsa’s protest was back in the headlines, as 400 farmers sat on a dharna at a distance from the tower in his support, despite efforts by the police to stop them.

They gathered under the umbrella of Dharam Yudh Morcha, hoping to force Punjab’s legislators to pass a bill against sacrilege tabled by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party government last July.

Significantly, for the first time since Khalsa climbed up the tower, several farmer groups extended support.

“One of our brothers has been fighting for a law that will ensure that our holy scriptures are not desecrated for 17 months,” said Jaswinder Singh Longowal of Bharti Kisan Union Ekta...

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