Farmers Movement Archive

What’s next for farmers’ protests

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a large platform of farm unions, hopes to mount a countrywide opposition to the Modi government’s economic policies by setting up units in every state, two of its leaders said after a huge rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar on Sunday. Tens of thousands of farmers thronged the town of Muzaffarnagar, where they formally launched “Mission Uttar Pradesh”, a programme to propel their protests into the political bellwether state.Farmer unions had launched their agitation in November 2020, demanding a repeal of three controversial farm laws--the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act--but leaders of the movement have now broadened their agenda to oppose the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its economic policies.Also Read | Talks fail, Karnal prepares for Mahapanchayat tomorrowOn the face of it, the farmers have had little success in convincing the government to scrap laws that provide for freer agricultural markets and allow big supermarkets and food businesses to skirt regulated markets. The legislations also permit traders to stock large quantities of food for future sales and lay down a new format for contract farming.The unions declared they will oppose the move by the Modi government to monetise state-owned assets over the next four years to earn ₹6 lakh crore and boost infrastructure spending to spur economic growth.“India is now on sale to Adani and Ambani. We will not allow that to happen. We will hurt them in elections to teach them a lesson,” Rakesh Tikait, a leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Indian farmers’ union) or BKU said.The farm leader claimed the plan to lease out assets, such as food warehouses, roads and railways, will benefit a few big corporations. The farmers are especially directing their anger at “(Mukesh) Ambani and (Gautam) Adani”, a reference to the owners of two of India’s biggest business conglomerates which operate everything from seaports to airports.Farm leaders have called a nationwide strike on September 27. “Sunday’s rally has given us new energy as well as direction. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha will set up units in every state and in all of Uttar Pradesh, from Gazipur on Delhi’s border to Ghazipur in the eastern-most part of Uttar Pradesh,” said Yogendra Yadav, a key leader of the farmers’ platform.Assembly elections are due in Uttar Pradesh next year. Tikait said farmers would work to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP, which governs the state.Farmers are also demanding a law to guarantee minimum prices for their produce. India’s farm economy, supported by broad subsidies, tends to swing from one crisis to another and farmers often suffer negative returns. The Modi government has repeatedly said the new reforms were necessary to boost farm earnings.The Tikaits belong to the influential Baliyan khap, a dominant farming clan among the Jat agrarian community in western UP, most of which is made up of sugarcane growers. They voted overwhelmingly for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha, and the 2017 assembly elections.Tikait also called for Hindu-Muslim unity on Sunday. The Muzaffarnagar region saw Hindu-Muslim clashes in 2013. “We will not allow anybody to divide farmers into Hindus and Muslims,” Yadav said.The BJP had won by a landslide in the 2017 assembly election. “Steps taken by the government to improve farm incomes, cash transfers for farmers, linking of markets, building of warehouses, expansion of procurement, funding for agricultural markets known as mandis…all these together will counter any negative fallout,” said Gopal Aggarwal, the BJP’s national spokesperson overseeing economic affairs.

Hindustan Times

06-09-2021

India