Singhu Border, 25 June (Sangrami Lehar Bureao)- Tomorrow, on June 26th 2021, it will be seven months of the historical kisan andolan at Delhi’s borders. In these seven months, hundreds of farmer unions of India led by Samyukt Kisan Morcha mounted the world’s largest and longest continuous protest along with lakhs of farmers from numerous states of India. This farmers’ movement has brought back active agency, pride and dignity to farmers of India. Young farmers are proudly able to assert that they are farmers, and that their voice should count too. Women farmers have become visible as active partners in Indian farming, and struggles to protect farmers’ rights. Unity of farmers has remained in tact, despite many efforts from the BJP-RSS government to break it. Government’s answerability towards its citizens and their interests and welfare is at the centre of the struggle.
Tomorrow is also the death anniversary of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, an iconic peasant leader of 20th Century India who fought against zamindari system. He also forged peasant-worker unity in the movements he led. Today’s farmer movement also reflects such a peasant-worker unity with kisan mazdoor ekta and solidarity giving great strength to the movements of both farmers and workers.
The Kheti Bachao, Loktantra Bachao Diwas being marked by SKM is also against the backdrop of the 46th anniversary of promulgation of emergency and India’s black days of Emergency between 1975 and 1977. It was a time when democratic rights of citizens were curbed mercilessly and human rights of citizens violated. Today’s authoritarian regime in India is a reminder of those dark days when freedom of expression, right to dissent and right to protest were all stifled. This is a period that resembles an undeclared emergency. It is a regime that has chosen to remain unresponsive and irresponsible. A memorandum addressed to the President on this occasion raises all these issues, and asks him to intervene and get the farmers’ demands fulfilled, apart from protecting our Constitutional values and principles, and our democracy.
A curtain raiser virtual event was organised today on SKM facebook live where many farmer leaders participated from across India.
Tomorrow, as thousands of farmers across India are getting ready to march in rallies to Raj Bhavans in different states, as an expression of solidarity, Indian diaspora has also decided to take out rallies. One such rally is being planned in Massachusetts in the USA.
The farmers’ movement was able to wage its struggle for so long, completely peacefully, due to the involvement of extra-ordinary citizens in the movement. These are citizens who are tirelessly and selflessly supporting the struggle, in a spirit of Sewa. Ram Singh Rana, the owner of Golden Hut dhaba personifies such spirit. There are also others. Bibi Mohini Kaur at Singhu Border is special. She is a tailor who stitches clothes for fellow protestors and sells them without any profit attached. She does not charge fellow protestors her own stitching costs but only the cost of cloth used for stitching kurtas and pyjamas. It is Sewa from people like Bibi Mohini Kaur that has kept the movement alive and strong. Samyukt Kisan Morcha salutes her.
Yesterday, protestors gathered in Hisar with black flags to protest against BJP state level meeting. Similarly, Union Minister of State from Punjab, Mr Som Parkash (who was also part of eleven rounds of talks between the farmers and the government in the initial couple of months of the agitation) was met with black flag protests in Punjab.
More mobilisation of farmers is happening on the ground in different places, to strengthen the movement. Thousands of farmers from Saharanpur and Sisauli in Western Uttar Pradesh reached Ghazipur Gate led by BKU Tikait. In Punjab, farmers have begun engaging with migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to explain to them about the 3 black laws brought in by the Centre, requesting them to spread the word and join hands. Protests of wheat farmers, sugarcane farmers, mango farmers, apple farmers, green gram farmers, paddy farmers, jowar farmers and others continue in different parts of the country, for remunerative guaranteed prices. Farmers in Punjab are also struggling against power cuts that are disrupting the paddy transplantation activity.