Day 313
Toll 628
Compensation
A few years back when I was travelling Panjab to understand the region and people, a guide said to me: ‘if you want to understand Panjab, learn to count its corpses’. The statement was a catalyst to the book, but also led me to learn how the state views death? Especially deaths which are either accidental, or intentional, or by design through structural violence.
The most common aspect of such deaths is either denial by state or denial of compensation for death. This leads victim families to go into an endless loop seeking either affirmation or compensation thus distracting them from the circumstances which led to the death. For example, the conditions which result in farmer or labour suicides, the human rights violations that led to innocent being gunned down by the state. This never sat easy with me.
I know the importance of compensation in any victim family’s life. Yet, I have an issue with putting a price on life and not addressing the system that killed the person. With not rectifying the system. Because that would mean the systemic brutality will continue and murders will just be paid off.
Yesterday, Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s negotiated peace at Lakhimpur Khedi. Yes, the money offered for deaths and injuries is high but real justice would be to actually see Ajay Mishra (Teni) and Ashish Mishra (Monu) and around 15 accomplices booked and behind bars. Teni being sacked from union cabinet like Akbar was sacked when #MeToo allegations surfaced. The video attached clearly establishes Monu deliberately mowed down innocent farmers peacefully walking back from the protest.
Will that level of justice ever happen? Will actually, focus come back on Farm Laws, when that is the reason why the protests have started? Yesterday, the Supreme Court made some very naïve remarks: ‘when events like these happen, no one takes responsibility’; ‘why protest when the law is not in force at all? And the court has kept it in abeyance. There is a stay.’
The Advocate General described the Lakhimpur incident as ‘unfortunate’. The Solicitor General submitted, ‘Once the matter is before highest constitutional court, no one should be on roads. They must trust us’.
Sometimes one wonders if one is living inside a horror film. Why protest, your lordship?
Because farmers do not trust the justice system of the country. Yes, ‘trust’ the very word the Solicitor General brought up. The whole idea of compensation is to close the mouth of those aggrieved, to shut them up. That is where trust breaks and it has broken massively in this country. No one trusts the government any longer because the government has lied through the last seven years. On every single issue. Now the court has asked 43 SKM leaders why they are not joining talks to solve the Farm Laws issues. Trust, your lordship, trust is missing. Protest is against the Centre, not the state. The demands are crystal clear. The Centre has not budged yet you seek answers from farmers?
Now with this compensation announcement, farmers who have staked so much for close to a year by protesting are raising the issue of trust even with the SKM leadership. The faith in leadership is in tact but should the event not guide us to push for full justice? Push for Teni’s dismissal and Teni and Monu and company’s arrest? There are FIRs lodged under murder and criminal conspiracy and rioting.
To me, it was ironical to hear Rakesh Tikait reach Lakhimpur day before night and someone mention Navreet in a speech. I had shared the speech yesterday. Navreet was the young man who was shot at on January 26th and his tractor had toppled, killing him. At that time SKM had disowned him.
We understand SKM’s difficulties. We understand how hard it is to sustain the protests. We see how the nation rises in parts but has still not come out in full flow to demonstrate solidarity.
I believe, without all of us rising, the Farm Laws imbroglio and the protests will never end. We need to ask ourselves: is compensation the end? Is a price paid by corporates to acquire farm lands the solution to the Farm Laws? Basically, is life and land cheap? Can each of us, just be sold for a price? Isn’t that what these protests are about – self-respect, against commodification?
I do not have answers. I am no one to suggest answers. All I know is that to keep the trust we need to move away from the roulette table of compensation and rise together to tackle the draconian government. That is the need of the hour.
Video: to put an end to all the lies the BJP has been spinning since yesterday morning about farmers indulging in stone throwing that caused vehicles to topple and crush them, this video is clear evidence that no such thing happened. It was clear pre-mediated murder by Monu and company. 41 seconds. Trigger alert.
See here …
Day 312
Toll 627
Irony of Democracy
In this country now, government creates violence, people keep peace. Media spreads lies, people find truth.
Yesterday, Haryana CM incites violence. Son of MoS Home mows down farmers. Today, as dawn breaks, slain farmers, their families, farmers awaiting justice.
See here …
Day 311
Toll 623
Irrelevant
What is the worst that can happen to a leader? A PM? Simply that what he says does not get reported, no one takes him seriously, everyone ignores him like he ignores people. That is exactly what happened to PM Modi’s statement on farmers protest yesterday. No one paid attention. Same banal lies, no one is interested.
This becoming irrelevant is the worst fate to befall someone as narcissistic as Modi. It happened last time when farmers organised their parliament in parallel to the Indian parliament. It happened yesterday and will continue to happen. Of course, electoral politics is a different ball game.
The same happened to ex CM Panjab Amarinder Singh when he went to discuss farmers issues and protest with the Home Minister. Too late Maharaja! You didn’t think of this for 10 months and when unseated you sought to become farmers uninvited representative. No, the farmers protest won’t allow you to appropriate it. It is interesting how though there is no let up from miseries, now the society is able to side line irrelevant discourses.
Yesterday, within a few hours of farmers in Haryana and Panjab protesting in front of elected MLAs across party lines, the Central government started paddy procurement. However, it is a sad comment how even for basics we now need to start protesting against this government. It shows how the governments have eroded democracy.
On the other hand, for those who wonder what will be the role of farmers protest in eastern Uttar Pradesh in the coming state elections, the SKM’s Padayatra from Champaran in Bihar to Varanasi began yesterday. Another Kisan Yatra left from Rudrapur to reach Ghazipur Border. Farmers have occupied the helipad at Maharaja Agrasen Ground at Tikunia, Tehsil Nighasan in District Lakhimpur Kheri of Uttar Pradesh. They are protesting against the Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Mishra Teni who issued an open threat to SKM leaders in a public meeting recently.
The farmers have the government by the jugular. We just need to join efforts to press harder.
Day 310
Toll 617
Oct 2
The irony of Gandhi Jayanthi is such that yesterday the Supreme Court frowned on the largest, longest, peaceful and non-violent protests in the country for blocking key roads to Delhi. The Court is now instructing farmers to become party to the petition as if it does not know the farmers stance: lack of faith in the judicial process.
Ask yourself why did the farmers never contest the Farm Laws in the Courts? Did the Court not last December say, ‘Women and elders should go back home.’ The panel that the Court established presented its report this March end. It is still lying in a sealed envelope. In August the Court said, ‘Farmers have a right to protest.’
Then what was this somersault yesterday?
Of course, Gandhi was flawed, there are many issues with him. Yet, there was merit in the form of resistance he cultivated. Ask yourself if Gandhi were alive today, where would he have been: at the government offices or on the roads protesting alongside the farmers?
In fact, farmers have decided to carry out a token fast today while the PM is busy removing Gandhi’s face from public spaces. All that the government, a legacy of those who killed Gandhi, wants to do with Gandhi is keep his round spectacles, his charakha, his emphasis on cleanliness, for their own publicity. What a dark joke on Gandhi!
Wish you a Gandhi Jayanthi but frankly I see it meaning less and less as years go by and perhaps nothing to the next generations.
Day 306
Toll 613
Bharat Bandh
In the last 10 months (Delhi), 12 months (Panjab), 15 months (since activities started) of the farmers protest and the nation, yesterday was phenomenal simply because for the very first time we saw and heard the whole country respond. The Bandh was a response to the farmers’ stance, a reverberation of their energy, an acknowledgement by lakhs of ordinary people, if not crores, thousands of organizations, groups and unions, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of sites of resistance who came up in solidarity to shut down India for 10 hours.
Given how under this regime, mainstream media has almost drowned ground realities, social media is swayed by bots, the farmers protest on ground has kept its resolve, persisted to resist, by staying focussed on their goals and creating an eco-system to sustain them. I see all of this in keeping with the nature of the farmer. The farmer sows seeds and it takes a long time for crop to grow. Meanwhile there are weather hazards, pest attacks, parasites out to wreck the crop. Yet, finally the crop grows and sustains humanity.
It is very clear that under the draconian regime we live in, the push to sell-out the nation, to jeopardize our lives and work, this resistance is the only way we can sustain ourselves. At the end of this struggle – if it ever ends because it is the nature of power to perpetrate atrocities – we might be eroded and wounded, but we might have the taste of freedom. This deepened political consciousness is, I think, the greatest harvest of the farmers protest.
Yesterday’s protest was absolutely peaceful. There were zero incidents of: violence, arson, loss of public property, loss of private property, vandalism, injury, accidents. Now that should tell us who creates violence in the country and how the anndatas feed us, sustain us, care for us. This should end the allegations of farmers ever intending to harm the society.
The huge surge of solidarity from the country was not just about Farm Laws. Of course, repeal of laws and legalisation of MSP, electricity and pollution Bills are the focus of the protest, but what I loved is that many sections of society are in crises and each of them came out with their own charter: labour codes, sale of PSUs, Dalit atrocities, communal violence, and so on. The core call was ‘We Want Justice’.
This to me is how the farmers protest has created the platform for public discontent to be aired, for people of the nation to stand up for their rights. Personally, this is what I have been waiting for in the last many months. In a democracy, this space is normally with the Opposition but sadly in India today, the Opposition is also waned. Of course, all Opposition parties supported the Bandh. However, ideally, they should have created this platform.
Never mind, country folks, now we need not look at political parties for deliverance. We have taken charge and let us grow in strength. More power to us!
Dear Friends,
today when I was reaching Town Hall, Bangalore in an auto, the driver was telling someone on the phone – yes, Panjab, Haryana, full bandh. I added, Kerala, Bihar too, reports from Odisha, Telangana, Bengal too. Then we both said: but our Bangalore! He said, Bangalore is a karishma – a miracle. We both sniggered.
At Town Hall, the protest location, a multi-coloured sea of flags was on display. My eyes welled up. Really because, for 10 months now, I have merely been articulating the protests and feel tired. Everyday I go to my local market and there is no talk of the farmers movement, shops are open, business is usual, except during the pandemic waves. I have been feeling lonely in my pursuit. I know our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, youth and children on Delhi’s borders have had it far more harder through bone-chilling winters, extreme summer heat, monsoon floods. How much have they endured!
Yet, today, not only Bangalore but the whole nation responded. I cried! We all gathered around 11.15 am and then marched to Mysore Bank Circle. All the way chanting: we want justice, down with BJP, Modi haye haye! Music to my ears. I am positive, the ‘dhooni’ at Ghazipur border, the flames in northern states, have now spread like a blaze across the country.
I am thinking, if one day could do this, three days will bring the government on its knees. More power to us!
To see pictures click here …
Posted on September 26, 2021
Day 304
Toll 607
Dear friends, I hope you are aware of Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s call for Bharat Bandh tomorrow and pray you are in solidarity. At least this much to support farmers protesting for last 10 months on Delhi’s borders against Farm Laws.
See poster in English here …
See posters in 11 Indian languages here …
Day 300
Toll 605
Bommai
Basavaraj Bommai, the Karnataka chief minister from BJP, recently said in the state assembly that the farmers protest are sponsored by the Congress. There cannot be a bigger joke like this. How can Congress, which can’t keep its flock together, engineer such a huge supply-chain management for 10 months on delhi’s borders which could really test any CEO or military general.
It is pertinent to mention Bommai is the son of one of the most important Janata Dal chief minister SR Bommai whose famous case against union of India on arbitrary dismissal of governments by the Centre is considered a landmark. To see the son of a Lohiaite now turn saffron and spread such canard is unbecoming of a chief minister.
A few weeks back, when appointed CM – a seat that Yediyurappa made possible for him after his alleged ‘friend’ Shobha Karandlaje was appointed Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare – Bommai had said he is forming a committee to double farmers income by 2023-24.
What?
Isn’t Modi going to double farmers income by 2022? Next year? Wasn’t that his promise? Please do not double farmers income. Just give a legal guarantee on C2 + 50% as MSP. That is enough.
The farmers protest clearly tears bare the many lies of the BJP government, whether in state or centre. Then they hide behind such lies to fill the time.
The same is happening with Akali Dal in Panjab. Having failed to stop the Farm Laws from being passed in Parliament, symbolically Harsimrat Kaur Badal, former Minister of Food Processing Industries resigned from the Modi Cabinet, Akali Dal pulled out of the Modi government, but is still not being accepted by the people of Panjab.
Yet, these leaders continue to lie and fool the people. We too, I guess, enjoy being fooled.
Day 298
Toll 602
Dear Friends,
a while back Raunaq Singh Chopra from ScoopWhoop had interviewed me on my views on the farmers protest, especially on the aftereffects of the Green Revolution. Later they interviewed others too Devinder Sharma, Vandana Shiva, Richa Kumar and Anmol Sandhu.
Here is their consolidated film, with subtitles, in three parts mixing ground footage, graphs, documents and statistics and our views. I just watched the film. It is a very competent exposition of the Green Revolution, its aftereffects and the farmers protest.
Part 1: 18.03 mins
Part 2: 24.19 mins
Part 3: 17.52 mins
I feel they are worth watching to understand the various dimensions of the protest.
Day 297
Toll 601
Judicial Block
A few days back, on the basis of a writ petition filed by a NOIDA resident, the Supreme Court had ordered the Haryana government to talk to protesting farmers to open one side of the National Highway-44 blockade at the Kundli-Singhu. The site falls under Haryana jurisdiction.
It is a strange order. Right from the beginning of the protests, knowing how Courts behave, the farmers have chosen not to take the Court route to solve the imbroglio over Farm Laws. Still, in December, the Supreme Court decided to constitute a panel to look into the matter. In end of March, the panel submitted it report in a sealed envelope to the Court.
Yet, even now, almost six months later the Court and the government has not found time to open the envelope, make contents public. On this matter of the blocked road, under Supreme Court orders, the Haryana government has formed a high level panel to discuss with farmers but what is the use?
The road blocks by farmers are against the Centre. They are meant to obstruct government functioning. They are a non-violent method of seeking government attention to solve the issues around Farm Laws. What is the point of lifting the road barricades when the government has not solved the issues?
Also, note, locals at all protests sites – in spite of heavy losses in business – are still supporting the farmers. On their part, farmers are trying to insure locals do not suffer as adversely as they could. Service lanes are being kept open as far as possible. During the COVID-19 second wave, farmers had opened the roads for free flow of Oxygen. But since the protest is on, the road blockade is a form of protest.
It is the police that has blocked the service lanes, not the farmers. The barricades, the stone slabs, the concertina wires are by the police, not farmers.
In a well thought out decision the Samyukth Kisan Morcha has decided not to meet with the Haryana panel. The Courts and the state governments can’t localise these massive protests as traffic issues. The Centre has to face the farmers and repeal the laws, legalise MSP. Only then will road blocks be moved. Else, they will remain judicial blocks.