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The Last Night at Singhu
Indra Shekhar Singh
Singhu: Yellow mustard flowers have bloomed near Singhu once again and robust green feral castor guards the roadside. But it was time for the farmers to leave Delhi. A year was up and the Narendra Modi government – barring the guarantee of Minimum Support Price as a legal right – has agreed to farmers’ demands. These include the assurance to withdraw cases against protesters, compensation for the families of those who have died, and so on.
After a three-hour metro-rickshaw-cab-ride, I found myself on a withered tarmac with some company.
A group of farmers were walking towards Singhu. Six people from Punjab and one older man, Mani Lal, from Sikar in Rajasthan.
“Punjab farmers have awakened the country to MSP, if they leave without legal guarantee, they will betray the nation,” said Mani. Suddenly, Tajinder, an Amristari farmer cut in, “We are aren’t going anywhere. If the leaders have taken a call, we should honour it. India will get MSP.”
Mani didn’t seem convinced. The road swerved unto a dusty trail passing an ebony sewage drain and overlooking a semi-ghetto but Mani’s questions kept us distracted.
In no time, I was at the border. The police’s barbed wires and cements road blocks had still not been removed, but the green stage at Singhu was already being disassembled.
Farmer leader Balbir Singh had just finished his last speech, praising the farmers for the victory and admonishing Modi and “Ambani-Adani”. He requested all to leave the camps by the morning of December 11. But the question on MSP remained unanswered.
Evening was setting in, and hordes of tractors with youths and massive speakers were on the roads. A dancing frenzy was unleashed. Cameras were out, and flashes were lightning up the dark.
Soon the music dimmed and serious faces appeared. Inside each tent, farmers’ were cutting bamboo structures, iron rods and packing up their tents. Tractor trollies were being loaded, and farmers’ caravans were leaving.
Amidst the bustle, I found a sad face – Pappu, a middle aged tea shop owner. His hole-in-a-wall tea stall was stocked with biscuits to omelettes and sweet confectionary. I ordered an omelette, he looked through his electric blue frame and our conversation began. “With the farmers gone, I won’t even earn Rs 600 a day. I had already stopped making tea, hoping that in the winter omelette and eggs sales will go up. But now all is gone,” Pappu said.
Pappu was among hundreds other local vendors, who have been dejected about the farmers’ return. “Business was going so well, I thought I could even repay my debts. But now I will be alone again, with my debt. I will be sad once the farmers are gone,” he said.
Pappu spoke about rising poverty, the Modi government, ration shortages and the police’s lathi charges. People kept coming in. In a year’s time, Pappu, a native of Kanpur, had learned and now spoke Punjabi.
It was now darker outside, the wind was cold, and my omelette was over. I had to leave for my tent – Ambedkar Students Library. This is a blue makeshift canvas-plastic structure, which houses books and budding journalists.
I was given a warm welcome and taken to special guest section. Here I found Sandeep Singh and Gurdeep Singh smiling. “People are now tired. This has been a long year and believe me it wasn’t always so energetic. In June and the August-September period, only a few thousands people were here. It was raining, and we didn’t even have enough hands to repair the damages,” said Gurdeep Singh, a MPhil student who is in charge of the library.
It had been a tough year for many at Singhu. But all that appears over now. The loud music and dances were still on. As Gurdeep chopped onions, we prepared for dinner when a journalist Manpreet Singh walked in with freshly cooked carrot and potatoes.
We eat heartily our last Singhu supper, huddled inside a tent.
We asked each other about the movement, the compromise made with the government and the future of MSP. Can the farmers come back to Delhi once gone, I asked? Has Modi really won or the farmers? I received no reply.
But about then a hearty and white-bearded Jagdev Singh entered our tent. “We must follow our leaders at this juncture,” he said. I asked him who his leader was and was he part of a farm union? “No, I am completely independent. And once the farmers leave it will be hard for them to come back,” he said.
“Farmers have to be very careful so that even the leaders can’t compromise our goals. The committee is a deflection, many leaders have political ambitions too,” Jagdev added.
As midnight fell, my three tent-mates fell asleep. I decided to take one last stroll. The music had not ended yet, but after a 10 minute walk, my night had. I snuck into the tent, having lived the last night at Singhu, merry and content.
(The author is the former director of Policy and Outreach, National Seed Association of India. Courtesy: The Wire.)
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Tikri Border: The Day the Farmers’ Protest Ended
Rohit Kumar
Jasbir Kaur Natt recalls when she and her farmer comrades first arrived at Tikri Border from Mansa in Punjab 380 days ago.
“By the time we got here, it was already evening. There had been a lathi charge on us earlier in the day, but we just kept going. When we reached here, the police then threw tear gas canisters at us. That was when our brothers from Haryana, who had arrived before us, kicked the canisters away and jumped into the fray to protect us. On our way here, the police had blocked the highways, but the Haryana farmers made a way for us through their fields. And from the time that we have been here they have stood with us and given us food, milk and complete support in every way possible. We will never forget what they have done for us.”
She remembers their first ‘stage’ which literally consisted of a desk and a sound system borrowed from one of the tractors. She also remembers how how reluctant the locals were, initially, to help them in any way, seeing the state’s brutal response, but she is grateful for how they opened their hearts, homes and facilities once they realised the righteousness of the farmers’ cause and the decency of the protestors.
The protest at Tikri came a long way from that first day. Home to tens of thousands of protesting farmers over a 22-km stretch for over a year, this nondescript border of western Delhi saw hundreds of bamboo shelters come up during April and May that provided a bit of succour from the summer sun and monsoon rains.
Today, the shelter Jasbir Kaur has called home for a year is being dismantled and packed up. When I ask her how she is feeling, she says while she is happy to be going home, she is going to miss those who have become her family here, and the deep bonds of camaraderie that have been formed.
“Don’t make me emotional now,” she warns. “I’ve already cried once in the committee meeting,” and laughs as she wipes a tear.
Almost everyone I speak to says something similar. They are happy to have won but sad to leave their new community of brothers and sisters behind. Mandeep Mann from the Jamindar Socialist Organization thanks Prime Minister Narendra Modi for (unwittingly) helping farmers from Punjab and Haryana who have had a long history of suspicion and rivalry come together again. “Haryana Punjab Ekta Zindabad!” is a slogan one has heard countless times at the borders over the last year. It is now much more than a slogan.
As I walk down the stretch of Rohtak road that I have walked down a hundred times this past year, I run into an old friend. Kulvinder and his friends from Fatehabad, Haryana gave me a ride on their John Deere tractor on the day of the Republic Day Tractor rally. We recall the day and the love and affection we received from thousands of people who lined up on the sides of Rohtak Road to cheer the farmers on and shower them with flowers. Kulvinder also recalls with marked sadness how the police deliberately tried to make them stray from the pre-decided rally route and how they were attacked and tear gassed.
“It still hurts to think about that day,” he tells me, “how our own government and police attacked us the way they did.”
I remind him of the comical minutes it took to get me to climb on his tractor. The rally had begun, boom boxes were belting out defiant Punjabi protest songs, and excitement was a fever pitch as tens of thousands of tractors shot out of Tikri like racehorses out of a starting gate. Kulvinder had told me to wait further down the road and told me they would pick me. What they hadn’t realised was that I had never gotten on a tractor before. It finally them a couple of minutes to literally haul me aboard. We laugh about how I quite literally “held up history” and miles of tractors for a couple of minutes that day.
Not everyone is completely satisfied with the farmers’ victory. There are those like Rishabh, the Delhi university student who has been living at Tikri for a year, who has feels the Samyukta Kisan Morcha shouldn’t have called off the protest, and should have continued it till Minimum Support Price was made a legal right.
But an older Punjab farmer leader and a veteran of many andolans tells me, “Starting a protest movement isn’t difficult, but knowing how to end it well always is. It is important to end a protest at the right time. It is also important to remember that a single protest, no matter how huge, will not change society. This is an ongoing process and this protest has now become a springboard for the next major battle — minimum support price for farmers.”
I also also think about the brutal Delhi winter and the cold that claimed many farmers’ lives, and though I am genuinely sorry to see the old farmers go, I am glad they will spend this winter in the comfort of their homes and in the company of their grandchildren.
The sound of hammers dismantling iron frames of the bamboo shelters is everywhere. Young men on tractors are blasting out protest music. Down the length and breadth of the protest site, men and women are packing up their belongings and loading water containers, mattresses and camp cots onto tractor trolleys. I shake as many hands as I can and thank and hug as many farmers as possible. They hug me back. I tell them I will miss them. They tell me to come and visit them. They also tell me they will be back if the government misbehaves again.
Jasbir Kaur points out, “We have forced the government to repeal the three Laws, but with this protest we have also challenged the deep influence of the WTO, the World Bank and the IMF on India’s economic policies, so you can be sure that the battles ahead will be even fiercer.”
This protest may have ended, but the larger and deeper battle against the neoliberalism that has impoverished India in so many ways has only just begin.
(Rohit Kumar is an educator with a background in positive psychology and psychometrics. He works with high school students on emotional intelligence and adolescent issues to help make schools bullying-free zones. Courtesy: The Wire.)
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Police Brutality, FIRs and a Hostile Khattar Govt: What Haryana Farmers Overcame
Vivek Gupta
The protest against the farm laws mainly centred around Punjab. Yet two developments played a vital role behind taking them to Delhi’s doors and onto international spheres.
First, representatives of around 30 Punjab farmers’ unions that later became part of Sanyuta Kisan Morcha that conducted the protests at the national stage decided in a meeting on October 27, 2020, to take their stir beyond Punjab’s borders.
Second, on November 20, 2020, the SKM itself was formed, when the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh and various factions of Bharatiya Kisan Union came together. A meeting in Chandigarh in connection with the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march on November 26 saw farmers resolve to march together.
“Haryana farmers were nowhere in picture till then,” recalls senior journalist from Chandigarh, Hamir Singh.
As planned, Punjab farmers’ unions began to march towards Delhi from November 25, 2020, through many routes, mainly the Punjab-Delhi National Highway that passes through Haryana, Ratia-Fatehabad and Talwandi-Sirsa, he said.
But the BJP government in Haryana stopped tens of thousands of farmers from Punjab from marching towards Delhi. At one point, farmers were considering a retreat due to fear of clashes with the Haryana police.
“Here, Haryana farmers played a crucial role. It was Haryana farmers, who with the help of the BKU Chadauni group broke the Haryana police barricade, paving the way for Punjab farmers to march towards Delhi and rest is history,” said Hamir Singh.
Hamir said the protest would not have reached a scale as it did later if Haryana police had its way in stopping and demoralising the farmers at the Punjab-Haryana borders.
He said Haryana farmers not only broke the police barricade but also the “mental barricades” of farmers’ union leaders. They became fearless and stopped worrying about water cannon, teargas or lathi charge by Haryana police.
Later the protest settled outside Delhi gates due to the huge barricading by Delhi police at the border points of Singhu, Tikri and later, Ghazipur. These became the meccas of the protest and it was from there that farmers fought the year-long battle that is being seen as the largest public movement in modern history, said Hamir Singh.
On November 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally announced the repeal of the laws.
Haryana’s role in ‘feeding’ the protest
In the beginning, there were no plans on how protesters would eat once they reached Delhi.
Farmers from Punjab had brought atta, dal and ghee but still not in large quantities. Hamir said while there is no doubt that Punjab NRIs, gurdwaras and rural supporters did not allow any shortage of food to affect the protest, people from Haryana were integral.
“People from Haryana villages did not let the supply of milk, vegetables and other essential food stop at the Singhu and Tikri borders. Logistically too, it was easier for Haryana to supply food since the protest, for all practical purposes, was within Haryana boundaries,” said Hamir.
Numerically speaking, too, Haryana added significantly to the population of protesters. Several Haryana farmers passed away during the course of the protests too.
Maximum hostility from state government
The Congress government in Punjab was not directly hostile towards farmers’ unions and even the main opposition party Shiromani Akali Dal broke its alliance with ruling BJP at the Union government. But these conditions turned in Haryana.
BKU Chaduni president Gurnam Singh told The Wire that maximum cases were filed against Haryana farmers. As many as 48,000 faced penal charges, many of which were of very serious nature, like sedition and attempt to murder.
Haryana farmers also faced brutal lathicharge from the police, its excess at its height at the bloody incident of Karnal.
“To say the least, Haryana farmers kept the protest alive with their blood. Nearly 200 farmers sacrificed their lives. Even though there was no compensation from the hostile state government unlike Punjab, this did not demoralise them,” said Gurnam Singh.
He said that even as laws are officially repealed, Haryana farmers will keep fighting till the time the cases against them are not withdrawn.
They are not given proper compensation. Besides, the question of legalising MSP is not settled. “The history of Haryana farmers is glorious. The farmers’ protest has added another chapter in it,” he said.
The BJP government in Haryana additionally often accused the protest of being politically motivated.
Their main allegation was that ever since the BJP formed the government in the state, the farmers’ lobby that was very powerful during Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s time could not tolerate a non-Jat chief minister in Manohar Lal Khattar. Hence, the real ‘ploy’ as BJP leaders claimed privately and also in open discussions, was to destabilise the Haryana government led by a non-Jat chief minister through this farm protest.
“That is where Khattar made a mistake,” a BJP Jat leader said, requesting anonymity.
“He (Khattar) could not understand that the farmers’ protests became a symbol of farmers’ dignity. He could not see how the protest enlarged to a scale where it was not confined to the farming community alone,” he said.
Neutralising ‘propaganda’
Another major contribution of Haryana farmers is that they provided diversity of faces and religion.
While there was continuous attempt to tag Sikh farmers as “Khalistanis”, that the narrative was false was evident as Haryana Jats, who are followers of Hinduism, rallied behind the movement.
Gurnam Singh said that there was a continuous attempt to create a divide between Punjab and Haryana farmers. There was even an attempt to communalise the movement by making it a ‘Sikh versus Hindu’ fight. “All these things failed because the focus of the farmers was clear,” he added.
He added that the state leaders could not understand that this protest was not political, but an attempt to prevent the corporatisation of agriculture that the BJP was trying to impose with the farm laws.
“It was a fight to save the land of the farmers. It was a fight to ensure that they get proper remuneration for their produce, he added.
Spirit
Even though the BJP-led Haryana government was hostile towards them, farmers from the state kept protesting against BJP leaders and disturbed a host of public programmes of BJP leaders, including those of Khattar.
It was during one of these resistances that farmers were lathicharged at Karnal before the arrival of Khattar in August this year, leaving at least 10 injured. Last year, in October, protesting farmers were lathicharged in Sirsa.
Amidst this, came a controversial comment from Khattar in which he exhorted farmers’ bodies sympathetic to BJP to raise volunteer groups in villages for a “tit for tat” treatment of agitating farmers. He withdrew his remarks following backlash.
Farmers’ resistance against BJP’s alliance partner, Jannayak Janata Party, a breakaway faction of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), also proved crucial.
JJP is a rural Jat-centric party and farmers are considered to be their core vote bank.
However, the JJP led by Ajay Chautala and his son and deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala chose to stick with the BJP despite farmers seeking their support. Farmers demanded Dushyant’s resignation but Ajay Chautala defended him, saying his resignation will not be a solution.
This created tension between farmers and JJP several times during the last one year.
Gurnam Singh Chaduni said that JJP has ditched the farmers in Haryana. “Farmers will never forget it. The BJP-JJP might feel that they have redeemed themselves today but it is not true. They cannot claim credit for what happened in any way,” he added.
It was due to this protest that BJP lost politically, too, in the state. It could not win municipal elections and lost all by-polls in the past one year.
Khattar is now keen to cut a conciliatory picture along with JJP. Their first litmus test will be Panchayat elections that are due for the last 10 months. How it now brings farmers to its fold remains to be seen.
(Courtesy: The Wire.)
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As Farmers Head Back Home, They’re Taking Unity and a Renewed Faith in Democracy With Them
Kusum Arora
Jalandhar: “Saadi sameen saadi Maa hai, asi apni Maa nai chad sakde. Je morcha fateh na hunda, asi Pind mud ke nai auna si. Hun asi jit ke ja rahe haan (Our land is our mother; we cannot leave our mother. Had we not succeeded in this protest, we would have not gone back to our villages. Now we are heading home after our success),” Sukhdev Singh (62), a farmer from Sangojla village in Punjab’s Kapurthala district said with joy and a choked voice.
A year ago, when farmers left for the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march, Sukhdev also joined the protest against the three farm laws and became one of the faces of farmers’ protest.
His iconic photo – of being beaten up by the Haryana Police on his way to Delhi – went viral on social media and made national headlines, triggering massive support from people worldwide. The photo was not only used by the farmers’ groups but also by the BJP IT Cell to propagate a fake narrative about the farmers’ protest.
On Friday, when farmers were all set to go back home after one year and 13 days at Singhu border, Sukhdev said, “Rehndi duniya tak saade morche baare gal hoyegi (People will talk about our farmers’ protest till eternity). The year-long protest has renewed my identity as a farmer. Consecutive governments have ignored us but this agitation has brought us into the mainstream.”
Sukhdev also said that since his photo went viral on social media, he was flooded with calls and videos from across the world. “It was November 26, 2020. While removing the barricades, Haryana Police had hit me with batons on my shoulder, knees and thighs but instead of running away, I stayed there with deep bruises and injuries. Noticing the police brutality, youth got provoked and they shielded me. I still get goosebumps whenever people ask me about that day. But I am a happy farmer today because we fought hard to save our lands and earned a victory,” he added.
Sukhdev initially stayed at Singhu border for four consecutive months, but later came home and kept going back frequently. There were others like Jasbir Kaur Natt, though, who stayed at Tikri border throughout the protest and managed the stage deftly.
A member of the Tikri Border Action Committee, Jasbir said that there are terms like ‘samajwaad (socialism)’ and ‘punjiwaad (capitalism)’, which are used in the context of protests. “Earlier, women confined to the four walls of the house had never even heard about these terms. Today, they can lead an hour-long session on these subjects and that too from the stage. I noticed how women gained confidence through the movement and voluntarily started talking about not just farmers’ protest but other key issues too. Now, women know that they can achieve anything with unity, even force the governments to change their anti-people laws,” she said.
But Jasbir lamented that women are not even considered as farmers, even though they have a major contribution to the farming sector.
“Even the agricultural land is not transferred in the name of women. We held discussions on these subjects at Tikri border and even observed January 18 as ‘Women Farmers’ Day’. Till date, farmers’ organisations in Punjab had no women leaders in organisational posts but now their number will increase,” she said, adding on a lighter note that the farmers’ protest is an ideal example of gender equality too, as now men have also learnt how to cook chappatis and clean utensils within a short span of time.
At Singhu and Tikri borders, apart from other key takeaways from the farmers’ protest, people also take pride in mentioning Punjab and Haryana’s bonhomie.
From initially supporting farmers from Punjab to providing dry ration, vegetables and logistics, Haryana played a pivotal role in strengthening the ties.
As Navdeep Singh, the young boy who became the ‘hero’ of farmers’ protest from Jalbera village of Ambala district in Haryana, said, “Till date we used to read adages like ‘unity is strength’ but now we know what it really means. After India’s freedom struggle, farmer’s protest is the only movement in the history of independent India, in which youth participated voluntarily from day one and remained a mobilising force.”
Navdeep also pointed out how langar sewa united people. “At protest sites, people from all religions used to stay together and eat together. Ek thaali mai roti khayi hai humne (We have eaten together in one plate). Farmers’ protest served as the antidote of the government’s communal and divisive agendas,” he added.
During the year-long movement, Navdeep was slapped with 14 FIRs on different grounds by Haryana police. One of the FIR was lodged for attempt to murder, rioting and violation of COVID-19 rules after he jumped atop a police van and turned off the water canon vehicle when farmers were heading to Delhi on November 25.
Navdeep’s videos and photos are still seen on social media. “I was enthused by the farmers’ protest and performed the daring act of jumping on the water canon vehicle and turning off its tap. At that time, all I wanted to do was to save our farmers from getting drenched in the harsh cold. Farmers’ movement has given us a new ray of hope in the country,” he continued.
Another young farmer and activist, Tejvir Singh (34) from Panjokhra Sahib village in Ambala, was among the first few groups who lifted barricades on November 25. He said, “Now we know how to raise our voice for our rights. I think after a long time, it is now that the youth has finally got direction in life. We have become united, organised and learnt about our potential too, which was not the case earlier.”
On the volunteer service performed by people, Tejvir said whether it was langar sewa, supplying milk, vegetables, making slogans or spreading the word about the farmers’ protest through social media, people just kept joining the protest.
“It feels as if there was a divine blessing on this movement. Liaising was the key for us and we reached out to farmers and youth in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and other states during the year-long movement for state-level dharnas. The impact of farmers’ protest will go on for generations,” he added.
While the farmers’ protest gave direction to the youth, it was the joy of seeing farmers’ getting international recognition that counted the most for Jasmail Kaur from Deon village, Bathinda district.
Before she could list any of her experiences, the elderly woman said, “It feels great to see how farmers overcame all obstacles, created history and became a subject of debate worldwide. I feel proud of my farming background. A person like me, who never ventured out of Bathinda alone, went to Tikri border in Delhi with fellow women protestors. Farmers’ movement has boosted our morale to a point that at times, I feel short of words to explain how I feel about it. It is in our genes to fight and stand against injustice, come what may. And women not just helped in cooking a 24×7 langar at Tikri border but also emerged as equal participants of the movement. We were confident from day one that farm laws will be repealed and we are coming home with flying colours,” she said.
Jasmail also talked about how faith in god kept them going in some of their toughest moments.
Sharing one such incident, she said, “During peak monsoons, it was raining heavily and there was no dry place at all to even sit and cook langar. The tarpaulin was leaking while all tents were choked with water. Suddenly, we noticed that a part of the tarpaulin stopped leaking and with prayers on our lips we started cooking chappatis hurriedly. It was Guru Nanak Dev’s blessings that despite bad weather, we could find a small dry place to cook food and serve the farmers. It was moments like these which kept us in high spirits.”
As Sukhdev also added, “Asi Guru Gobind Singh di fauj haan, kade peecha nai mud de. Morcha fateh karke hi mude haan (We are the followers of Guru Gobind Singh, once we take a decision, we never look back. We came back only after a successful farmers’ protest).”
(Courtesy: The Wire.)
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Six Major Phases That Defined the Farmers’ Movement in India
Vivek Gupta
Chandigarh: While there were several ups and downs during the year-long farmers’ protests, there were six major phases that defined the movement and kept it alive.
In June 2020, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved three farm ordinances that later became Acts in September after they got cleared in both Houses of parliament.
The first phase marked the spread of the farmers’ protests in Punjab, soon after the Union government passed the ordinances hastily. Various factions of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) in the state understood the potential impact of these three ordinances on the farmers in the country, and they were the first to begin a protest in the state that reached its zenith by October.
The protests took a concrete shape when different farmers’ unions formed the Sangharsh Committee, comprising representatives of 32 unions, in the state in September 2020 and started staging demonstrations in the form of the Rail Roko Andolan, blocking toll plazas, and holding dharnas against two of India’s richest corporates, Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani.
The first political fallout of the farmers’ protest was breaking of the alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its oldest ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). This also led to the acceptance of the farmers’ protest among all other political parties except the BJP.
Farm economist Sucha Singh Gill told The Wire that the first defining moment of the protest was when Punjab farmers’ unions realised that holding protest alone in Punjab would not serve their purpose as they needed to involve farmer leaders of other states in order to pressurise the Union government in withdrawing these farm Bills.
“Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) – that later stirred the protest at a national level – was born out of this effort during a meeting of over 300 farmers’ unions in Delhi in November 2020 and the rest is history,” said Gill.
SKM’s ‘Dilli Chalo’ call
The second major phase of the farmers’ protest occurred when SKM launched the ‘Dilli Chalo’ movement and asked all farmers’ unions from across the country to reach the national capital on November 26, 2020. A large number of farmers from Punjab began their march towards Delhi in their tractors and trolleys but were stopped at the Haryana-Punjab border by the police.
They succeeded in crossing the police barricades, and also faced lathi-charge but they did not stop.
Finally, the farmers from Punjab reached the Singhu border where they were stopped by the Delhi Police. The Delhi Police offered them Nirankari ground for a sit-in protest but farmers insisted on reaching Ramlila ground. As Delhi Police did not agree to this, farmers sat on a dharna at the Singhu border only, which later became the mecca of farmers’ protest in India.
Another contingent of farmers from Punjab led by BKU Ekta-Ugrahan, which took a different route to reach Delhi, were similarly stopped by Delhi Police at the Tikri border, which later became the second site of the farmers’ movement.
At the same time, the farmers from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand led by Rakesh Tikait reached the Ghazipur border of Delhi, which became the third major spot of farmers’ protest later.
Days later in December 2020, farmers from Rajasthan led by Yogendra Yadav were stopped at the Delhi-Jaipur highway at Shahjahanpur, which became the fourth spot of farm movement.
“Within few days, the national capital was surrounded on all sides by farmers. Within a few weeks, farmers from other states joined the farmers at these locations and this truly turned into a nationwide movement,” recalled Yogendra Yadav.
During this phase, the SKM mainly focused on mobilisation of farmers and arranging logistics for long overhaul at the Delhi borders. The primary focus of the mobilisation, according to Gill, was on villages in Punjab, Haryana, UP and other states where volunteers were selected to ferry the protesters to the protesting sites on a regular basis.
These volunteers then also looked after the families of those who had left for the protesting sites on a permanent basis. This had a cascading effect in urban areas as well from where a large number of government employees, students and professionals came out in support of the movement and engaged with it through physical presence and also through social media, said Gill.
Centre-farmer talks failed
As the protests went global from the borders of Delhi, the Narendra Modi government was forced to begin the process of negotiations with them by constituting a three-member committee comprising Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Narendra Singh Tomar and Som Prakash.
There were 11 rounds of talks between the Union government and the farmers between December 3, 2020 and January 22, 2021, but farmers’ unions showed utmost unity and patience as they insisted on repeal of the laws.
Even as the Modi government made several offers to make suitable amendments to the farm laws, farmers’ unions stayed firm in their demands to repeal the farm laws.
It is at this stage when farmers’ unions for the first time clubbed other demands including a legal guarantee to minimum support price (MSP), removal of anti-farm provisions in the Electricity (Amendment) Bill and criminal provision against farmers for stubble burning. They stayed on with these demands till the last day of the protests.
At that stage, there was an opportunity for the Modi government to end this protest by revoking these laws but it had something else in mind.
When negotiations did not proceed further, the farmers announced a major mobilisation programme in the shape of a tractor rally in Delhi on January 26 to put further pressure on the Union government. This was the next major phase of the farmers’ protest that forced SKM and other farmers’ unions to change their strategy to convince the Union government to listen to their demands.
This, according to several SKM leaders, was the first major setback for the farmers’ movement when the tractor rally ended up in clashes between farmers and police personnel.
Aftermath of farmers’ Republic Day clash with Delhi Police
SKM leader Yogendra Yadav told The Wire, “I look at the incident from the organisers’ point of view. Once we knew that lakhs of people would come (in SKM’s call for the tractor march in Delhi), we needed much better protocols. We needed much greater volunteer force. We needed much greater discipline.”
“But having said that, there is clear evidence that when tractors were going towards the Red Fort, no one stopped them. When they reached its gate, no one prevented them from entering the premises that too on Republic Day when security in Delhi is at an all-time high. Policemen were even seen taking selfies with the protesters,” he said.
He said the January 26 incident remained the most intriguing and mysterious link of the protest, which makes one suspect that the state might have been involved in scuttling the protest. During the whole movement, the disruptors were found to be photographed with BJP leaders right from the Red Fort incident to the killings at the Singhu border involving Nihang leaders.
He further said that what happened on the night of January 28 at the Ghazipur border, where police started throwing farmers out, it was a clear attempt to end the movement forcefully.
“The government started from Ghazipur thinking it was a weak link and also they could turn the movement into a Hindu versus Sikh issue. But things changed dramatically on that night because of the bravery of Rakesh Tikait, and finally, we were back on track,” he added.
Was there any change in strategy after the January 26 incident? “One clear change in strategy was that the SKM stopped organising programmes with big crowds because everyone had a clear view that they did not want another ‘26 January’,” he added.
He said the focus then shifted on organising small functions. The programmes with large gatherings were then shifted outside Delhi. When we planned something in and around Delhi, it was done in a more disciplined manner.
Jagmohan Singh, general secretary, BKU (Dhakunda), and one of the SKM spokespersons, told The Wire that after the January 26 incident, there was a feeling that this protest would be over soon since there was such a deep-rooted conspiracy to kill the movement. The protesters were targeted from all fronts – be it the use of excessive police force, turning locals against the protesters or giving a communal colour to the protest.
“It was God’s grace that we were back on track. All thanks to our brothers and sisters from UP who turned the table and put us back into the protest. We then started calling more and more people and regrouped our whole protest,” he said.
He said the SKM also strengthened trust with villagers in and around main protest sites at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur. “We held medical camps to help villagers and won their trust back.”
“One major achievement after the January 26 incident was that all those forces who wanted to give a communal colour to the protest could not sustain longer and automatically separated from the protest,” he said.
Bhupinder Singh Longowal, convener of the young wing of Kirti Kisan Union, part of the SKM, told The Wire that all key leaders did not sleep for four days after the January 26 incident.
“We had to fight hard to bring the movement back on track. We were fighting at multiple levels. First, it was important to provide adequate security to SKM leaders since their lives were at risk. Second, we had to stop anti-social elements from causing further damage to the protest. Third, we had to stop farmers from going back to their homes by making regular appeals day and night. At the end, we somehow managed and revived our protest,” he said.
SKM’s anti-BJP campaign
One key reason why the farmers’ protest remained alive for long and was highly successful is because it remained apolitical and did not let politicians use the SKM platform to their advantage.
SKM’s decision to launch a political campaign against the BJP was the fifth phase of the farmers’ protest that hit the saffron party hard.
Yogendra Yadav said that it was a very tough decision, given the stand that the farmers’ protests remained apolitical till then.
“But we made our protocols clear. First, the SKM decided that it will not campaign for any candidate. Second, it will not support any political party. Third, its message would be clear, limited and negative, that is to hold a campaign only against the BJP because of the obvious reason that it was the BJP which brought the farm Bills without even consulting the stakeholders,” he said.
“Our action was political but in a limited sense. It was well-targeted and achieved results too in denting the [results of] the party in the West Bengal state elections and other state bypolls,” he added.
Balbir Singh Rajewal, another key leader, said that SKM had no intention to campaign against the BJP in the Bengal elections. “We were forced to take extreme steps because of the negative attitude of the BJP government against our demands,” he said.
“When SKM leaders landed in West Bengal for the first time, we had no preparations at all. We just had two tractors on rent and a handful of Punjabi supporters. There was not much of a crowd on the first day of our campaign. But I was surprised when people from Bengal started coming with us. Then I realised that there was no chance we would lose now. Days later we held several packed rallies and ultimately made the BJP defeat there,” he said.
He further said that after West Bengal, SKM began its UP mission. “Our first rally in Muzaffarnagar was highly successful despite communal tension in the area. You would be surprised that more than 500 langars were organised by Muslims in the area. The crowd was overflowing in the rally. There was a huge crowd spreading over several kilometers,” he said.
“It was not without a reason that the Modi government started thinking of revoking the laws as the SKM began hitting them politically,” he added.
Lakhimpur Kheri and aftermath
The sixth and the last phase of the farmers’ protest can be attributed to the circumstances emerging out of the killing of four farmers in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in UP. The protesting farmers were killed by a VIP convoy allegedly including Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra, who was arrested a week after the incident.
The brutal killing at the Singhu border was seen as another attempt to malign the farmers’ movement, but it could not derail the protest.
Weeks later, the prime minister on November 19 finally repealed these three controversial farm laws. Later on December 9, it sent another letter to the SKM, giving assurance to resolve other pending demands of the farmers, thereby paving the way for the farmers to suspend their historic protest.
“No prime minister in this country wanted to be remembered as anti-farmer and that must have been one of the major considerations of Modi in finally succumbing to the pressure of the farmers. Second, Modi must have assessed that things in the border state of Punjab were turning delicate due to the farmers’ protest. No prime minister could afford to face another trouble in the backyard when problems in Kashmir valley will be prolonged for years to come due to the decision of the BJP government to read down Article 370,” Yogendra Yadav said.
He added, “Finally, I think BJP’s internal opinion polls in UP finally forced Modi to announce the repeal of the farm laws. In this decision, the Lakhimpur Kheri incident had a huge role to play. This blatant episode earned them such bad publicity at all-India level that they had to defend themselves at all costs.”
He also said that the role of the media during the farmers’ movement played an important role and should be discussed. He said the entire mainstream media had ganged up against the movement and ran such shameful stories that it will go into the textbook of journalism on how not to do journalism.
“The farmers’ movement was so strong on the ground that instead of affecting the movement, mainstream media ended up affecting its own image. A middle-class movement would have been finished with the kind of lynching the media attempted during the farmers’ protests. But in this case, it failed miserably and ended up affecting its own credibility in a very serious manner,” he said.
He said it will now take them years to recover from it. The fact that the common people have started using the term ‘Godi Media’ is proof of it.
(Courtesy: The Wire.)
