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Over 470 Farmers Martyred but Farmers Stand Resolute

Courtesy: Sabrangindia

27 May 2021: Farmers body Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) congratulated India’s farmers for the success of the May 26, 2021 Protest Day in face of many trials, not least of which are the deaths of over 470 farmers since the beginning of the nationwide struggle.

On May 22, farmers recorded as many as 477 deaths since November 24, 2020 when the struggle against the three laws – the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance & Farm Services Act, the Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act – began. More concerning are the 31 suicides recorded in Punjab, Haryana and one death in Tamil Nadu of farmers.

In an effort to lessen such cases, SKM members have already tagged various suicide helpline contacts such as Aasra NGO’s number 9820466726 and email id aasrahelpline@yahoo.com. As the second wave of Covid-19 washed over India, reports of farmers succumbing to Covid-19 were also reported. Around nine farmers between the ages of 45-80 years died due to the infection, while one person died due to non-Covid complications. This, despite efforts by SKM leaders raising social distancing awareness among protesters and trying to arrange vaccine campaigns at protest sites.

“Even during the dangerous surge of the Covid-19 pandemic, annadaatas of India are forced to remain on streets for half a year. Deeply conscious of the risks of the pandemic, we have no desire to expose protesting farmers r anyone else to health hazards,” said farmers during earlier pleas to repeal the three agricultural laws.

Yet as the disagreement between farmers and the Centre continued, farmers continued the protest even during harvest season. In April, Shaheed Smaraks (memorials yo the dead) were also constructed near various protest sites to honour the martyrs.

Speaking on the morale and resolve of India’s peasantry in face of such deaths, SKM leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said in a press release, “Even though the farmers’ agitation has had to continue for six long months with many hardships, including the martyrdom of more than 470 farmers, protestors [are] prepared to continue for however longer it takes. Government of India can choose to remain unwise in stretching this longer without resolving the demands of the farmers, but this would be at its own loss, and at the expense of BJP’s supporter base.”

Farmers’ Protest Day

Peasants across India flooded social media with images of black flags and burning effigies to dissent against the anti-people-dubbed laws of the central government.

“Farmers have kept up the struggle for six long months, despite bitter cold winters, rain, scorching heat and braved severe repression and defamation by the BJP-RSS and their agents. There have been over 470 farmer martyrs in the last six months. But Modi, like Nero, still keeps fiddling as India burns, with peacocks for company,” said All India Kisan Sabha President Ashok Dhawale.

Numbers at protest sites near Delhi borders swelled significantly with thousands of people joining the protest. Apart from these, several places of Himachal Pradesh and terai region of Uttarakhand; every district of Punjab and Haryana; Rayagada and other places of Odisha and Kolkata and other places of West Bengal, Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir, places in Tripura and Assam all witnessed lakhs of farmers and others marked the day in various ways.

Karnataka: Chamarajanagar, Mysuru, Kolar, Vijaynagar, Ramanagara, Belagavi, Dharwad, Bangalore, etc.

Andhra Pradesh: Kurnool, Anantapur, Visakhapatnam, Krishna, etc.

Maharashtra: Amravati, Nanded, Nandurbar, Nagpur, Sangli, Parbhani, Thane, Beed, Sholapur, Buldanha, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Satara, Palghar, Jalgaon, Nashik, Mumbai, etc.

Bihar: Begusarai, Vaishali, Purnea, West Champaran, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Sitamarhi, Siwan, Jehanabad, Ara, Bhojpur, Patna, etc.

Uttar Pradesh: Bareilly, Sitapur, Benaras, Balliyan, Mathura, etc.

Tamil Nadu: Sivaganga, Dharmapuri, Tanjore, Tirunelveli, Coimbatore, Karur, Chennai

Rajasthan: Jhunjhunu, Bharatpur, Shri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, etc.

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Editorial addition: A Newsclick report, “Six Months of Farmers’ Agitation: Black Day Observed Across Country”, gives additional reports of observance of Black Day on 26 May in various states:

Uttar Pradesh

In Uttar Pradesh, the black day protest was marked by the burning of PM Narendra Modi’s effigies and hoisting of black flags atop farmers’ houses and tractors, with the protesters coming under attack by police officials in several places.

Western UP farmers staged a sit-in at the toll plazas where police attacked the protesting farmers. During the sit-in near Meerut-Dehradun road in Thana Daurala area, many toll plazas including NH58 was left free. Many Bharatiya Kisan Union supporters held black flags in their hands, several others had placards that condemned the government and demanded withdrawal of the contentious laws, even as they shouted slogans against both the Yogi Adityanath and Modi-led governments.

“Six months have passed since the farmers’ protest at Ghazipur border against the three farm legislations began,” said BKU leader Rakesh Tikait, adding that their protest has now become a fight against oppression, fascism and capitalism.

In Sisauli, 10 km from Muzaffarnagar district, a tractor rally was organised by local farmers under the banner of Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Gaurav Tikait, where scores of farmers not only from the district but also from adjoining areas including Meerut, Baghpat and Saharanpur participated with their tractors. The agitating farmers later reached the local toll plaza where they started a strike. Heavy police forces were deployed to stop the farmers from proceeding further.

Meanwhile, the UP Police has put many farmer leaders under house arrest in Etawah, Bijnor and Muzaffarnagar districts and stopped the convoy of farmers in many places in Eastern UP which were on their way to the district headquarters to handover the memorandums.

According to villagers in Bijnor and Baghpat district, farmers with black flags in their hands in more than 50 tractor-trolleys and other vehicles moved to Ghazipur border to join their fellow farmers who have been protesting for the last six months; many women farmers and their children also travelled in the tractor-trolleys to make the protest a success.

Assam

In response to the call given by AIKSCC, protests against the farm laws were held in many districts across Assam. Several farmers’ organisations including the Krishak Mahasabha, AIKS, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, Jeepal Krishak Shramik Sangha, Sangrami Krishak Shramik Sangha, and Sadou Asom Khetiyok Santha joined hands to raise their voice against the farm laws.

In upper Assam, protests were organised in Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Charaideo, Lakhimpur and Sonitpur districts.

In Dibrugarh district’s Tingkhang area, people along with demanding the scrapping of the farm laws, also raised slogans demanding compensation for the farmers who have lost lands in the Mikir Bamuni gaon of Nagaon district. The Mikir Bamuni gaon has been witnessing wide scale protests against alleged land grab by a solar company named Azure. Other than Tingkhang, protests were also held at Lahowal, Chabua and Naharkatiya of Dibrugarh.

Similarly, protests were held at Mariani, Titabar and Teok in Jorhat district. In central Assam, farmers protested at Kaliabor and Raha in Nagaon district.

Bihar

Thousands of farmers along with workers of different organisations of Left parties across Bihar observed May 26 as black day in protest against the black farm laws and to express their solidarity with the agitating farmers who have completed six months at the borders of Delhi.

Madhya Pradesh

Farmers in Madhya Pradesh observed the black day by putting up black flags atop their houses and at the corners of the streets across the state. Effigies were also burnt on several districts, according to the official communique of Madhya Pradesh unit of the AIKSCC.

Abiding by COVID-19 protocols, farmers observed protests at six places in the state including Raisen, Sehore, Chhindwara, Rewa, Satna, Gwalior and other districts. “In Raisen and on the outskirts of Bhopal districts, the rallies were carried out in groups of four and slogans were raised against the Union government by protesters on vehicles with black flags,” said Irfan Jaffri of the Jagrut Kisan Sanghatan.

In some places, the farmers put up black flags in their fields, tractors and vehicles to express their solidarity with anti-farm laws protest.

Apart from farmers’ unions, members of the labour, transport and coal labourers’ unions also showed support to the farmers’ protest, that completes six months today, by carrying black flags at their workplaces.

In addition to the scrapping of the farm laws, they are also demanding the abolition of the four labour codes, free COVID-19 vaccination for every citizen, free ration and Rs 7,500 monthly compensation for the marginalised class for six months due to the lockdown.

Bengal

In West Bengal, black day was observed in Darjeeling and Birbhum districts in support of the anti-farm laws protest. In Siliguri, farmer activists, donning masks and following COVID-19 protocol, poured on the Hill Kart road outside the Anil Biswas Bhavan. They held placards stating their demands and also formed a human chain.

In Birbhum, protest programmes were taken up at the block levels to show support to the six months long farmers’ agitation against the three farm laws.

Meanwhile, in several other parts of the state, protest programmes which were planned to take place outside were curtailed due to the inclement weather caused by Cyclone Yaas.

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Agri Law Protests: A Black Day for Farmers at Ghazipur

Indra Shekhar Singh

26 May 2021, Ghazipur: Just as hundreds of farmers were about to burn Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s effigy, the police – uniformed and in plainclothes – stepped in. In their rush to put an end to the matter, the officers ended up ripping the hands and feet of the Modi dolls.

“The police was misbehaving under orders. They obstruct our right to protest. Never before have we seen police attacking a dead effigy. We will complain against them,” farmer leader Rakesh Tikait said.

Luckily, the farmers seized the effigy soon after, took it to another spot and set it on fire. A circle of farmers formed, pushing the policemen out while the effigy burnt. And for those of us watching, the “black day” had began.

Across the world, as the moon darkened, farmers observed a ‘black day’ on May 26 to mark six months of the historical protests against the Modi government’s controversial agricultural laws. The police action in Ghazipur backfired and ended up electrifying the gathering, which quickly swelled to a few hundred.

While much of the mainstream media coverage surrounding the ‘black day’ event centred around whether the gathering was breaking COVID-19 social distancing protocols – an extremely valid concern – why do farm leaders have remained steadfast in their protest despite the obvious risks posed by the pandemic.

This reporter headed out towards the Ghazipur camps, in the hot sun. Many farmers were eating food, while others were returning to their hookah. But what are the protestors thinking of? MSP, Kharif sowing, money or returning home? Virender Singh, a middle aged-farmer, didn’t mince his words: “We got Rs 1,700 per kg of wheat, after giving a bribe of Rs 100 and 1 kg of wheat.” The government’s claims of bumper harvest and procurement were cracking.

Recently the government did a flip-flop on the fertiliser subsidy hoping to garner farmers’ support. Virender pointed out: “Modi is a master economist. First DAP bag prices increased, naturally farmers protested. Post it, bag sizes were reduced by 5 kg and farmers are still paying Rs 1,200.” Many other farmers on the right and left, suffered this angst.

Jasbeer Singh Mallik, a 56-year-old farmer from Muzaffarnagar, recently got Rs 1,600 for his wheat. He narrated his story,“UP government is not procuring our wheat. There is a four month waiting, they say.” Jasbeer was among many who feel cheated by politicians’ procurement promises.

“Since the Modi government [came to power], our inputs – fertilisers, seeds, diesel, electricity, costs have sharply increased, but the market prices keeping falling. We have no margins left. Each family with a Kisan Credit Card has a minimum of Rs 2-3 lakh debt. They are refinancing current loans by taking more loans. COVID-19 has exacerbated the agrarian crisis, that’s why farmers are hoisting black flags,” he added.

But maybe the younger generation thinks differently? Sunil Balliyan, from Shamli, a young farmer, wore all-black in protest. The growing black-marketing of commodities in his area perturbed him. “It is because of the farmers’ revolution that we are getting better prices. But until there is a law to guarantee MSP, no one is can guarantee fair prices to vegetable growers to sugarcane farmers. In addition, the government is goading us into a debt trap. Why no pay sugarcane dues the same day? Meanwhile farmers are told to take more loan, but not to demand renumeration for their sugarcane on sale-day,” he said.

Sunil was also disturbed by rising crime and drug-use in the area. All signs of decaying community.

To unravel the puzzle, we need a long-term view. It’s about then Swaraj Chaudhaury, a 75-year-old farmer from Baghpat, helped out, “In my entire life, farming has never been so bad. If our children don’t get jobs, we have nothing. Modi needs to take the laws back, or else rural India will suffer immensely. Only Adani and Ambani will control everything, rest of us put under a company-raj.”

Ashq Mohammed, a white bearded farmer from Muffarnagar agreed. “Modi has caught us, before the coronavirus did. We will die of debt and destitution before the diseases comes to us. There is nothing left for us. Our children have no option but to leave farming. Plus there are no job too, where do we go?” he said.

Despite the trouble and heavy deployment of police, black flags hurled all day. The evening brought more people to the camps and celebration continued.

BKU’s UP state president Rajbeer Singh explained, “This is a farmers’ revolution dedicated to bring a radical paradigm shift. Unlike other revolutions in India, we are not for regime change. We are apolitical. We want fair prices for our farmers, and rooting out of exploitative systems, that have kept our farmers in misery.”

(Courtesy: The Wire.)

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Punjab: Farmers Hoist Black Flags to Mark Six Months of Protest

PTI

26 May 2021, Chandigarh: Farmers across Punjab hoisted black flags atop their houses on Wednesday, joining a ‘Black Day’ call given by protesting farmer unions. This marked six months of their agitation at the Delhi border against the Centre’s three contentious farm laws.

Several political parties including the Congress, the SAD and the Aam Aadmi Party have extended their support to the farmers’ call of observing the day as ‘Black Day’.

At some places in Punjab, farmers also took out a protest march carrying black flags and raising slogans against the Union government. Similar protests were also reported from few places in Haryana.

Farmer bodies have appealed to all sections including the labourers, the youth, the jobless, traders and shopkeepers to raise black flags at their homes, shops and industrial establishments. They have also asked people to put up black flags on their cars, motorbikes, tractors, trucks and other vehicles.

(Extract. Courtesy: The Wire.)

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Defeat BJP: Mission Uttar Pradesh 2022

Ismat Ara

Farmers protesting for the last six months against the farm laws brought by the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre have announced a “Defeat BJP: Mission Uttar Pradesh” campaign to be started ahead of the 2022 assembly elections in the state.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella organisation with over 500 farmers’ organisations, which is coordinating the protests, has said that it will be done by holding mahapanchayats across the state with anti-BJP slogans.

Since the farmers’ protest against the three farm laws began, there has been a political churn among farmers across the state, especially in its western districts such as Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Shamli and Saharanpur, to take on the BJP.

Farmers protest against BJP leaders in Western Uttar Pradesh

In February this year, Union minister and member of the ruling BJP party Sanjeev Balyan was forced out of a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district after farmers protested the meeting between the minister and Khap leaders and started shouting slogans. Balyan is also accused in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar communal riots.

He had gone to the village with the intent to “educate” farmers about the newly enacted farm laws, which have been heavily protested by farmers across the country with several thousands setting up camps at various Delhi borders. Locals say that Balyan’s popularity, which had roared after the Muzaffarnagar riots, is now starting to dip because of the anger among farmers owing to the new farm laws.

Rakesh Tikait, farmer leader and spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) from Uttar Pradesh, is also gaining popularity among the people of Western Uttar Pradesh.

‘Our protest will not fizzle out’

In January after the Republic Day tractor parade by the protesters and the subsequent police crackdown in Ghazipur, Tikait gave a passionate speech at Ghazipur border with tears in his eyes, which won the hearts of thousands of farmers from Western UP, who later joined the protest. He himself hails from Sisoli village in Muzaffarnagar.

On the other hand, people in Eastern Uttar Pradesh are also angry about the handling of the second Covid-19 wave by chief minister Yogi Adityanath. The situation is “ripe”, say farm leaders leading the protests as they announce “Defeat BJP: Mission UP”.

Rakesh Tikait said that farmers are not going to back down anytime soon until their demands are met. “The government should forget that our protest will fizzle out,” he adds.

‘BJP only cares for elections and votes’

Hannan Mollah, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) general secretary who is closely working with protesting farmers, tells The Wire that farmers had already held maha panchayat in the states which went to polls, and three of them, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal successfully stopped the BJP from coming to power. He says that the “Defeat BJP” will not just continue in Uttar Pradesh but also in other states which will go to the polls in 2022 such as Uttrakhand, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.

He added that the people of UP are already indicating their anger towards the BJP by voting against them in panchayat polls, where the party faced a crushing defeat. He said, “Panchayat polls have been an indication that people are angry with the BJP, and we have to use that anger and keep that energy alive among people.” He added that the main task would be to educate farmers and help them understand why they shouldn’t vote for the BJP through small teams across the state.

(Extract. Courtesy: The Wire.)

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Editorial addition: Meanwhile, another article in Newsclick, “Farmers Picket Highway Toll Plazas in West UP”, adds that after successfully observing Black Day on May 26 across UP, the farmers have further intensified their agitation in the state of Uttar Pradesh:

Lucknow: After observing ‘Black Day’ on May 26, protests against the three farm laws have intensified in several districts of western Uttar Pradesh including Moradabad, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Hapur and Gautam Buddh Nagar. Large number of farmers under the banner of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) are picketing highway toll plazas in their respective areas and claim that thousands more will soon arrive to join them.

Blaming the government for ignoring the farmers’ movement despite the fact that they have been protesting at the borders of the national capital for the last six months, the peasants have blocked a toll plaza near NH-58 since May 26 in Meerut, claiming that they will only vacate the spot after BKU national leader Rakesh Tikait’s instructions. Farmers in adjoining district of Muzaffarnagar are sitting on an indefinite strike at the Chapar toll plaza on the Delhi-Doon highway and Rohana toll plaza on the Saharanpur-Delhi highway in the district. They, too, have vowed to continue their movement until withdrawal of three farm laws and a new law on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) is enacted.

The BKU supporters and leaders reached toll plazas with an objective to stage the demonstration as part of their plan and to carry out similar protests at some other toll plazas in western Uttar Pradesh. The activists also raised slogans of ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’ demanding the withdrawal of the farm laws.

Addressing the protesting farmers at the toll plaza near NH 58, Gaurav Tikait, BKU’s youth wing president, reminded that six months have passed since farmers have been protesting against the new farm laws, but the government has turned a blind eye. “About 300 farmers have been martyred in the movement over the last few months. While some have died in accidents or taken their own lives, others have succumbed to the weather or other natural ailments such as heart attacks but the government at the Centre is adamant,” he said adding that their agitation at toll plazas will continue till the three contentious agriculture laws are withdrawn.

Addressing the police personnel who were deployed at the toll plaza to maintain law and order, Gaurav said that they are also sons of farmers, so he requested them to not shoot at the farmers who have been fighting for their rights. “We (farmers) will consider all toll plazas and points on highways as the country’s border and fight for our cause from there,” he told NewsClick, adding that whichever district and block has toll plaza, farmers will start demonstrations without any delay.

Meanwhile, farmers in Moradabad are on an indefinite strike from Wednesday, May 26. A group of farmers sitting for a dharna at Dalpatpur toll plaza on the Moradabad-Lucknow highway after discussing with senior farmer leaders. BKU’s district president Manoj Chaudhary said that they will soon chalk out a strategy to challenge the government which has so far refused to respond to the farmers.

“Members of the farmers union are staging protest at five toll plazas in western Uttar Pradesh. These toll plazas are located in Gautam Buddh Nagar, Meerut, Amroha, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, and Hapur,” BKU state media in-charge Dharmendra Malik told NewsClick.

The sit-in protest started from Meerut on Wednesday after the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of over 40 farmer unions observed May 26 as black day, marking six months of their protest at Delhi’s borders against the Centre’s three farm laws, as per reports.

(Extract. Courtesy: Newsclick.)

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In Key Victory for Protesting Farmers, Hisar Admin Agrees to Withdraw Cases, Pay Damages

Ravi Kaushal

24 May 2021: In a significant victory for the farmers protesting against brutal lathicharge and slapping of cases by the Hisar Police last week during the inauguration of a COVID hospital by Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar, the district administration on Monday agreed to withdraw the criminal cases and pay for damages caused to tractors and other personal vehicles.

The negotiations followed a protest by thousands of farmers who reached Hisar demanding withdrawal of cases against about 350 of them.

Clearly on the backfoot, the district administration invited the the farmers’ delegation for talks that lasted over four hours at the commissionerate. The farmers’ delegation included leaders from Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and local farmers who argued their case in front of the administration.

Addressing the gathering after the talks, Gurnam Singh Chadhuni from SKM said the district officials assured them that all cases registered in connection with protest on May 16 would be withdrawn. They also agreed to withdraw earlier cases related to the farmers’ movement against the three farm laws. They have asked us for a month’s time to file closure reports in the different courts. The officials also agreed to pay for damages to tractors and private vehicles. However, the most important thing remains that police officials unconditionally apologised for the whole episode, said Chadhuni.

When asked about filing of cases on police officials guilty of lathicharge, Chadhuni said the officials said that this was technically unviable as officials and farmer protesters were marked in same FIRs. “I wish to salute every person who came here. We literally compelled them to rub their noses on the ground. This victory will sow the seeds for greater victory that awaits us in coming days,” he added.

On May 16, farmers had protested in Hisar and had shown black flags to Chief Minister Khattar when he came to the city to inaugurate a COVID facility. Khattar, known for making controversial statements, had accused the farmers of spreading the coronavirus into rural areas, as they were commuting to protest sites at the border of national capital.

While the farmers were brutally lathi-charged, the police also claimed that some of their personnel were injured.

Monday’s protest saw farmers from Hisar, Bhiwani, Fatehabad, Rohtak, Sirsa and Jind assembling at Mayyar and other toll plazas and then moved toward the commissionerate. Finally, they assembled in Kirtiman Park amid heavy security where they were addressed by Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Rakesh Tikait, Ashok Dhawale, Gurnam Singh Chaduni, Balbir Singh Rajewal among others. Meanwhile, farmers had a heated exchange with police officials when they moved towards the airport after they received information about presence of Deputy Chief Minister and Jananayak Janata Party president Dushyant Chautala. However, no confirmation could be ascertained about his presence.

Addressing the protesters on Monday, Bhartiya Kisan Union spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said farmers will have to be vigilant about government’s moves as they now want to shift the protest from Delhi to somewhere else in the state.

“Why I want you to be vigilant is because of the fact they want to convert you into cheap labour for factories of corporates. I visited Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh recently where workers and people of the city stopped the privatisation of the steel plant known for contributing to development of the country. It’s market worth is Rs 3.5 lakh crore whereas the government wishes to sell it for Rs 11,000 crore. Literally, a pittance! So, please be cautious because they do not care about anything. Please keep one eye on your farms and another on the farmers’ movement. We will only win this struggle collectively,” he said.

Balbir Singh Rajewal, President, BKU Rajewal, emphasised that the movement is being watched by the entire world and what we achieve from the struggle. “The world, in recent past, has never seen a movement like this where people fought the corporates directly for such a long time. We will be celebrating six months of this struggle on May 26. Please understand the fight is beyond three farm laws and MSP (minimum support price) law. This is about saying that no corporate will dictate our lives!” said Rajewal.

(Courtesy: Newsclick.)