Farmers Movement Archive

UP Gate: Tikait’s grief changed equation on the ground

In the three months since the protest against the Centre’s farm laws began at UP Gate, there has been a marked transformation in the participation. From November to January 26, the site had mostly farmers from Punjab and Uttarakhand and some from western Uttar Pradesh.Soon after the violence on Republic Day, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait’s tears that went viral two days later changed all that.Now, the farmers are mostly from western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan,Karnataka, Haryana, Punjab and Maharasthra as well. What is more, it has revived a protest that seemed to have lost some steam following the violence. From several thousands, the UP Gate site gathering came down to about 800-1000 farmers, encouraging the Ghaziabad district to issue an ultimatum to the protesters to clear the site or be evicted. That was when the video did the trick.“Before Republic Day, there were thousands of farmers here and they marched to Delhi too. After the violence, however, many were on their way back. After the video went viral, more people have started coming in from western UP and other states and still coming in with food supplies and material,” Jagtar Singh Bajwa, a farmer leader from Uttarakhand and member of UP Gate farmers’ committee. “It is not so that farmers from Uttarakhand, Punjab and terai region have gone back permanently. They are on standby and will come within hours if need arises. We are still not calling them as here we can cater to a gathering of about 25000-30000 per day otherwise it becomes difficult to carry out crowd management.”The farmer leaders have also decided to change strategy to keep the momentum of the long drawn out protest going. “Under the new strategy, a group of 10 people from a village will take the place of a group from their village who can go and attend work at home and in fields. Then, they can come back and others from the site can go,” said Tejinder Singh Virk, a farmer leader from the terai region. “Seeing Rakesh Tikait in tears got people emotionally connected to the protest and now this agitation has also become a fight for honour. The pagri (a headgear) is a considered a mark of honour among villagers and also for members of the Sikh community. People from villages honour Tikait with a pagri almost every day now,” sad Rajbir Singh, BKU’s UP state vice-president. “Even the panchayats in western UP areas have galvanised people in support of farmers.”“People are coming and even offering their pagris to me but I politely decline. It is their mark of honour and no one can take their pagri. With support flowing in, our fight is gaining strength. We will not allow our ‘morcha’ (protest site) to break down. People who are coming are common man and villagers,” Tikait, said. On Tuesday morning Tikat sat alone on the footpath close to the Delhi Police’s heavy barricading and had lunch. The farmers say that such a gesture will connect more with the common man.“The agitation has now transformed into jan andolan (fight of the common man),” he said. Tractor-trolleys from UP bring groundnuts, laddus, fruit, kheer and also fresh supplies of vegetables to the protest site. Social activist Medha Patkar, who has been a regular visitor to the UP Gate site, said that the movement has transformed beyond the communities. “This protest has also removed the gender bias as many women are also coming forward and participating actively in protests. This has now transformed into a ‘jan andolan’ and it is an answer to the government that this country cannot be run by corporate,” Patkar, said.

Hindustan Times

02-02-2021

Noida