Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers hunker down at Jantar Mantar, demand repeal of farm laws

Busloads of farmers arrived in the national capital on Thursday from various states to protest three contentious agricultural laws during the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament after authorities decided to let them in. On the first day of their protests, they held a ‘kisan sansad’ or ‘farmers’ parliament’ at Jantar Mantar — Delhi’s designated spot for protests — demanding the government scrap the laws immediately.The three agricultural laws passed by the Modi government in September last year have been at the heart of massive protests by farmers since November. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella group of 40 farm unions, had declared on July 7 that farmers would march into the national capital to protest outside Parliament while it is in session.On Thursday, there was heavy police deployment all around Jantar Mantar, the historic 18th-century observatory in the city and the site where nearly 200 farmers have hunkered down for their protest, a few hundred metres from the Parliament complex. The current Parliament session, which began on July 19, will run till August 9, and so will the farmers’ sit-in.Iron barricades and baton-wielding policemen, including women personnel, formed a two-layer security cordon around the protest site, guarding its main entry points. Apart from several companies of personnel from Delhi Police, Rapid Action Force and Central Reserve Police Force — all armed with anti-riot gear — deployed in and around Jantar Mantar, nearly 5,000 security and traffic personnel also fanned out across central Delhi in view of the ongoing Parliament session and the approaching Independence Day celebrations, senior police officers said.On January 26, a farmers’ rally in the capital on Republic Day had turned violent, with cultivators on tractors clashing with riot policemen and laying siege to the 17th-century Red Fort. Police had used water cannons and teargas after repeated clashes broke out.“Those were not farmers but conspirators,” said Rakesh Tikait, an influential farm leader, adding: “When genuine farmers protest, it will be disciplined and peaceful as you will see. We will not rest till the government gives in to our demands.”Prominent farm leaders from the SKM addressed hundreds of farmers who carried colourful placards and chanted anti-government slogans. They include Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj India, Rakesh Tikait and Balbir Singh Rajewal of Bharatiya Kisan Union, Hanan Mollah of Communist Party of India (Marxist), and Darshan Pal of Krantikari Kisan Union.The ‘farmers’ parliament’ began with a ceremony to pay tributes to over 500 farmers who have died during the course of the nine-month-long protests. The SKM says 584 farmers have died so far, but the government had told the Parliament on Wednesday that it did not have any records of farmers’ deaths.“The United Kingdom’s parliament has found it fit to debate our issues but not our Parliament. Farmers have come here to prove that they can’t be fooled. These laws are designed to exploit farmers,” said Yogendra Yadav, a prominent critic of the government, addressing the farmers.Yadav was referring to British MPs discussing the farmers’ protests in India in the House of Commons in March, which India has officially rebuked. Following this, the external affairs ministry had summoned the British High Commissioner in Delhi.“We held a kisan sansad today where we demanded that the government immediately withdraw the three laws beginning with the APMC Act,” said Avik Saha, the secretary of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee.The protesting farmers’ contingent also included actor Sonia Mann, a popular face in Punjabi music videos. She was holding a placard that said, “MSP legal right”, a reference to the farmers’ demand for a legal right to assured prices for their produce.The farmers are demanding repeal of three farm laws that, together, seek to allow agrobusinesses to freely trade farm produce without restrictions, permit private traders to stockpile large quantities of essential commodities for future sales, and lay down new rules for contract farming.“If they (farmers) express their issues with the laws point-wise, we can discuss it,” agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Thursday. On July 19, he had said the government was ready to discuss all issues except the demand for scrapping of the laws.The Modi government has said the three reform-oriented laws were necessary to modernise the country’s antiquated farm sector. Farmers say the new measures will leave cultivators at the mercy of big food corporations.Farm unions, largely from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been holding protests at five sites near Delhi’s borders: Singhu, Ghaziabad, Tikri, Dhansa and Shahjahanpur (on the Rajasthan-Haryana border).On January 13 this year, the Supreme Court temporarily suspended the three laws and formed a panel of experts to examine them. The panel has submitted its report to the court, which has yet to take it up.“In a country like India, it is always easier to do reforms that affect elite sections, such as financial reforms. Hard reforms affecting sectors, such as labour or agriculture, will always be tricky because it involves the masses,” said KK Kailash of the University of Hyderabad.Farm unions say the new laws will force them to sell to corporate giants with greater bargaining powers at poor prices instead of government-run markets, which offer assured prices for cereals.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the government won’t stop the MSP system.

Hindustan Times

23-07-2021

India