March 28, 2021

Day 123

Toll 330

#FarmersProtest

Emperor’s New Clothes

No one can deny that we are tired and angry. One-hundred-twenty-three days of protest in extreme winter, sudden hail and rains, and now blistering summer, is no joke. Three-hundred-thirty people are already dead, many more are injured, many have fallen ill. Yet, there has been no word from the government. No effort to resolve the issue and send people home honourably.

We are angry.

The protests sit on a tinderbox of public discontent. For the last four months, farmers have, to the best extent possible, been non-violent. That is why we need to be careful, very careful in how we protest. Apart from the fact that violence derails us, violence is exactly what the government wants from us. Violence can become the government’s excuse to use repression. Violence could lead to escalation. We want resolution, not escalation.

What happened yesterday with Abohar BJP MLA Arun Narang in Malout – pushing, shoving and tearing of clothes in public – is to me a heat of the moment incident. From reports and videos it seems the intent was to throw black ink, but police was taking Narang in and out of a shop, anger built up, the shoving and stripping took place. Narang did not suffer any major injuries. He was discharged from hospital soon after.

Yet, the incident fails our test. No doubt, when hundreds or thousands of people protest there is no saying when the outburst can turn even slightly violent. That is why we need to be careful. There is much anger on the ground, simmering now for many months. If we do not take a stand against such outburst there is no saying who and where can do something slightly more drastic and that would risk not the protests – for they will go on nevertheless – but the goodwill the protests are generating world-wide.

In this battle of people vs powers, this goodwill is our greatest achievement. That is why look at was stripping someone means. Let us ask ourselves if physically stripping someone the best way to advanced our cause?

Yet, we must also notice that stripping someone, while disrespectful, also means uncovering, revealing their truth. Remember the Emperor’s New Clothes? Since day one of the protests the Emperors’ lies are being shattered, their dark truths are being exposed. I feel, we really do not do need to strip people literally, physically.

We walk a razor’s edge, let us walk it with dignity.

At the same time, the right-wing needs to realise that the method of mob violence, of group attacks, of noise and disturbance that they have used in the past have now come to haunt them. They turned democracy into mob rule, now they need to learn that mobs can also expose them.

It is Karma.

March 25th, 2021

Day 120

Toll 320

#FarmersProtest

Bandh Call

Two non-protest but in their ramifications, hugely political developments yesterday.

1) Delhi’s quest for complete statehood has been curtailed. Yesterday, The Rajya Sabha passed The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill amidst, notice a walkout by Opposition exactly the way Opposition was protesting outside the House during when the Farm laws were passed.

While we know the Central government has an agenda to weaken all democratic and pro-federalism structures of the nation, this walkout from the House is confirmation that the Opposition has still not learnt to behave responsibly. Or perhaps, Congress must have smelt this as an opportunity to finish AAP. First, Jammu and Kashmir, now Delhi. What Opposition does not see is this could be a model that can be implemented in any state. Sadly, the Constitution means nothing to the government.

2) Bihar Assembly passes Bihar Special Armed Police Bill, 2021, in a bid to give its police more teeth to conduct searches and arrests without producing a warrant. In the course of debate on this Bill, Opposition MLAs were thrashed inside the House, pushed down steps.

Today also marks the one year anniversary of how with a four hours notice, the Central government sent up to 3 crore migrant workers back home hundreds of kilometers away, on foot. A fact that we as a nation must be ashamed about.

Friends, what our elected representatives do with our vote is clear from all three instances above. Indeed, electoral democracy in India has become populist autocracy without concern for the rights of those who need the greatest care.
As citizens, the only way we can guard our freedoms is by asserting our voice. Exactly how the farmers have been doing for the last four months on Delhi’s borders. All these months I used to wonder why Delhi is not responding enough. Now, I know: when Delhi has not risen upon it being assaulted, curtailed, its vote stolen, what will it respond to the farmers or anyone else?

But you and I, and hopefully the people of Delhi, can still respond.

Tomorrow is a Bharat Bandh called by Samyukt Kisan Morcha. SKM has appealed for all road and rail transport, all markets and other public places to be closed across the country from from 6 am to 6 pm, Friday, March 26. However, SKM says, this is not necessary for the places where elections are going to be held.
Please join the Bharat Bandh. Let us make it a success.

Lastly, Hardeep Singh Dibdiba, the grandfather of the young man Navreet Singh who was shot on January 26, whose death police claims was from tractor accident, has stepped out of his home, into the protests to iron out the differences between various groups participating in the protest. He has called for a march of the youth today from Moga in Panjab to the Singhu border. It is underway right now. This is democracy – taking everyone along. Salute to Dibdiba Sa’ab’s sense of purpose.

Martyrdom Day – March 23, 90th anniversary of the hanging of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, and Shivaram Rajguru

There are many who say, ‘Oh! The farmers protests have gone on for 118 days, no end in sight.’

That is true. But we forget Sheetal Sathe’s song on Bhagat Singh:

toone to kaha tha, ye aazadi nahin dhokha hai …
itihaas mein bhi hum bhooke the, aaj bhi thokar khate hain …

You had said, this freedom is a farce …
In history we were hungry, today too we are shoved around …

These words by Sathe of Kabir Kala Manch resonate with me because while it is true that India gained notional freedom in 1947, that freedom was for some privileged ones like me and perhaps you. Vast sections of India remained enslaved and we who benefitted from freedoms allowed ourselves to get enslaved once again to crony capitalists.

For its work – singing pro-democracy and pro-annihilation of caste songs, celebrating diversity of religion and languages – the Congress-led UPA government imprisoned Kabir Kala Manch members under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act – UAPA. After they got bail in 2017, in December 2020, under the current dispensation, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) stated in court that ‘translations of songs was proof of violent activities and conspiracies’ against the government. Irony just died.

Now, tell me, is Sathe wrong about Bhagat Singh? Now tell me how long will it take to get freedom and who really stands in the way? It is certainly not the government alone. I feel, pardon me, it is us too. Unless we join the protests, we can’t expect farmers alone to fight for all our freedom.

Today the #FarmersProtests is marking the martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev in a big way. Hundreds of thousands are gathering at Singhu, at both stages at Tikri, and at the Bhagat Singh Memorial at Katkhar Kalan in Panjab. (The venue has shifted to Banga grain market due to inclement weather.)

In PANJAB: Journeys Through Fault Lines, I write: ‘Every age has its battles between the right and the wrong, the just and the unjust and the weak and the powerful. In today’s day and age, while the battle plays out as it has in every other age, one dimension has changed: there is now a tussle between the powerless and the powerful over the icons of the past. Until now these icons were the heroes of the weak and the oppressed. Now the powerful have appropriated the icons—stolen them from the people’s narrative and made them the state narrative. If appropriation of an icon by contrarian political forces is indicative of the person’s popularity, nationally, perhaps Bhagat Singh stands on top of the historical figures of modern India.’ Page 26

Sathe’s song here …

Dear Friends,

In Panjab, given that Akalis have lost favour and AAP continues to bungle, there is a one party monopoly – Congress. However, on ground, people are deeply disenchanted even with them. Basically there is a political vacuum in Panjab, and elections are in less than a year, the question is: what next?

There is a view gaining weight that farmer union leaders must enter electoral politics. Vivek Gupta asked me my views.

I disagree. There are my reasons and there are many senior thinkers in favour as well. Do read this interesting debate.

Day 114

Toll 302

#FarmersProtest

Tikait spins the Vaccine

As is his style, Tikait spins the Coronavirus vaccine. Now this will throw a lot of anti-vaxxers – who generally stand with farmers – into a tizzy but please remember general society does not know all your elaborate arguments. I know you have an uphill task on your hands but please read:

1) Sentiment on ground towards COVID-19 is ambiguous at best. Farmers do not deny the illness but believe if Farm Laws are not repealed, then they would be dead anyway – both metaphorically and sadly in many cases literally.

2) With rising numbers it seems a second wave is upon us. It could also be government is now revealing actual numbers and they never really went down. In the first wave, there was no testing for the virus on the protest sites. There were no documented cases either. Doctors attributed this to open air protests, winds, and generally waning numbers.

3) Tikait is actually using the vaccine to bait the government. He asks, police is getting it, others are getting it, why can’t farmers get it? By raising the question, he is actually asking the government if it believes farmers are equal to others? Or are they deliberately othered? If they are equal, why is the government not talking to them? It is close to two months now.

4) Tikait raises an important point on prisoners. He says, prisoners should be vaccinated. In fact, he goes further and comments on the over-stuffed prison system and says society must know how many prisoners are allotted per barrack. His question is based on one of the preventive measures advocated to stop the virus: why aren’t physical distancing norms followed in the prison?

5) It would indeed be wonderful if the government were to listen to farmer leaders. Not on vaccine but their real issues: repeal Farm Laws, legalise MSP. That is not happening. Officially, this is not Emergency when forced vasectomies were performed on hapless citizens.

That is why please do not get agitated and tie yourself up in knots over Tikait’s statement. His statements are a bait. In his own style, he is using the vaccine as a stick to beat the government.

The decision on whether to take the vaccine is still individual, at least for non-government employees which is majority of our nation.

Tikait’s statement here …

March 18, 2021

Day 113

Toll 302

#FarmersProtest

Defence

A few weeks back, an old Sikh on the Singhu border said, ‘I am really thankful to Pakistan and China.’ When asked why, he said, ‘They have not started war with India. Else Panjab would have had to fight both countries.’

When you try mentioning this to ansoojeevi, bhakt, right-wing sitting in TV studios or cushy drawing rooms who label Panjab and Sikhs as anti-national, they do not get it. I hope they would get these figures by their own minister recently in the Parliament.

Here is the contribution of various states to the Army – rank and file. In the graphic, I single out states that contribute over and above their percentage of the nation’s population. Rest all states, contribute below their population. I hope that settles the debate on anti-nationals.

Not that, and I repeat, serving in the Army is the only criteria to determine nationalism. There are many professions one can take on to be good citizens and that to me is enough.
In fact, this government has drawn the biggest wedge between the Jawan and the Kisan, the soldier and the farmer. Now look at another statistic – of resignation from para-military forces.

In the last five years, over 40,000 central forces personnel sought voluntary retirement and 6,529 resigned.

Do these figures tell you something about how our para-military views our government? Does that tell you something about the farmer protests? I hope they do.

Meanwhile, last evening, Ranjit Singh, the young man who was brutally stomped on by police came out of prison on bail.

March 17, 2021

Day 112

Toll 302

#FarmersProtest

A Million Cuts

For the first time the toll has crossed 300. Yet, there is not a word from the government. In fact, a few weeks back a Haryana leader was crudely dismissive about the deaths. Now, the Haryana government has come out with a new law to suppress protests – Haryana Recovery of Damages to Property during Disturbance to Public Order Bill, 2021. Given this law, the government will find it easier to arrest protesters, impose punishment or dues and supress the voice of the people. Two important protest sites – Singhu and Tikri – are in Haryana.

On the other hand, the Food Corporation of India is coming up with new norms for quality standards and procurement of farm produce. As we know, and is now being repeatedly highlighted through the protests, farming is not the simple throw seeds on ground, wait for rain, harvest, dump in Mandi. Farming is infinitely more complex than us buying what we need off the shelf.

Here is what is already going on since protests began: extreme shortage of gunny sacks to rice shellers. Shellers are the folks who shell the rice from paddy to pack and send it to the FCI to store and distribute. Given the acute shortage of bags, the shellers are clogged with previous season paddy but unable to move it ahead. The pipeline is blocked.

The changed rules limits the acceptance of various categories of paddy/rice:

- Broken grain: 25% is accepted. Now reduced to 20% when on ground broken grain is about 35%.

- Discolouration: 5% was allowed, now reduced to 3%.

- Moisture: 17% was allowed, now reduced to 16%.

- Foreign matter: 2% was allowed, now reduced to 1%.

The changed rules limits the acceptance of various categories of wheat:

- Broken grain: 4% was allowed, now reduced to 2%

- Moisture: 14% was allowed, now reduced 12%; grain won’t be bought even with value cut which was the case earlier.

- Foreign matter: 0.75% was allowed, now reduced to 0.50%

While this will hurt the farmers and the arthiyas, I want to highlight how this is a provision built into the new Farm Laws. In ‘The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020′, see point 4, sub-point 4: ‘The parties entering into a farming agreement may require as a condition that such mutually acceptable quality, grade and standards shall be monitored and certified during the process of cultivation or rearing, or at the time of delivery, by third party qualified assayers to ensure impartiality and fairness’.

Now, no one wants to deliver poor quality of grain. Yet, it is the timing of such new rules – while Kharif season is underway – and their ad hoc nature on what is acceptable or not. It is clear that if the Farm Laws are implemented, there would be many such conditions to curtail acceptance of produce and their sale and these conditions will keep varying according to the needs of corporates.

At another level, recently, the Centre has issued instructions making it mandatory for all farmers to give details of land ownership to get MSP for wheat. We are aware that 82 per cent farmers are small and marginal. In order to be able to farm productively, they take land from other farmers on lease for the season or year. This creates ‘absentee landlordism’. In Panjab, almost 45 per cent of land holdings are leased out by farmers to other cultivators.

Absentee landlordism is definitely an issue but this is not how the government can solve it. What this will do is when I as a farmer have taken five acres to cultivate and deliver my produce in the market, the payment will go to the original owner. That would cause conflict between the original cultivator and me. These are the government’s tactics to dismantle the procurement regime and punish the farmers.

Now tell me, what can the farmers do but protest against these million cuts?

March 15, 2021

Day 110

Toll 296

#FarmersProtest

Campaign

It all depends on what is our news feed, what are our channels of information. If you were me, you would be impressed by now with the effort the farmer leaders are putting in the elections and other states. That too without asking for votes themselves.

Tikait has been campaigning tirelessly in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Bengal. On March 20th he is coming to Karnataka for a Mahapanchayat. Yesterday, I saw Rajewal in a rally in Kolkata. He said they are going to fan out in all 294 Bengal constituencies to carry forward the message: a fistful of rice for every vote. Give us Minimum Support Price.

I keep getting links from friends and family showing me how clearly the world media is calling out the draconian government and its anti-people policies. The farmers protests, today railway employees will join protests, public sector bank employees are on protests, has disrupted and upturned carefully crafted narrative over last seven years. They pull off the veil and lay bare the government’s hypocrisy.

Police has been trying to disrupt the protests – cycle yatra in Tamil Nadu, Dhandi March commemorative in Gujarat. Yet, the tenacious protesters persist. The whole of Uttar Pradesh, much of Bihar and Jharkhand are now lit. As leaders come to south India, given how BJP has bungled with first list seat distribution in Bengal and will in other states, the momentum will continue to grow.

Seriously, what can be a bigger movement than this? What it will achieve, is yet to be seen. I only wish the elections are fair. Many of us suspect they are not. But full marks to farmers for effort and diligence.

March 13, 2021

Day 108

Toll 288

#FarmersProtest

No Vote To BJP

Even since the Samyukt Kisan Morcha declared it will go to Bengal and other election bound states to campaign against BJP, there are questions on this stand. The speculation is at two levels:

a) When SKM says it is non-political, why is it entering election campaigns?

b) Especially in Bengal, is this anti-BJP stance a pro-Trinamool Congress or pro-CPIM-Congress stance?

I would like to share my own experience when covering assembly elections Panjab, 2017. At that time the Congress stood against the incumbent Shiromani Akali Dal – Bhartiya Janata Party government and Aam Aadmi Party had joined the fray. While most gatherings by these parties during the campaigns were in hundreds or sometimes thousands, the largest gathering was by farmer and workers unions on January 31, 2017 at Power House Road, Bathinda. It had easily 8,000 to 10,000 people.

That rally was organised largely by Bhartiya Kisan Union Ekta Ugrahan and Panjab Khet Mazdoor Union. Of course, Buta Singh Burj Gill, Dr Darshan Pal and other leaders from other unions attended and addressed the people. The theme of the rally was ‘Samaj Badlo – Raj Badlo’. That is the essential stance of farmer and worker unions – Change the Society, Change the Governance.

Question 1: Is SKM truly non-political?

As far as electoral politics goes, it is largely non-political as in most of its members do not contest elections. Though there are exceptions – Yogender Yadav has a political party Swaraj India; Hannan Mollah, from CPI-M has been an eight-term MP; Balbir Singh Rajewal has been part of government committees; Rakesh Tikait contested elections with Congress support, not ticket and from RLD in 2014.

To understand SKM’s non-political nature we need to understand why they project this image. They are non-political in terms of party politics but they are citizens and not apolitical. In fact, they have a deeper politics that the current electoral democratic system is not able to accommodate.

This understanding is from their long, decades long, experience of the hypocrisy of political parties, of their betrayal before and after elections when they come to power. SKM also understands that it is part of the nature of politics in a neo-liberal economy and society that pushes political parties to change stance before and after elections. Before elections they can talk about all that the economy is not delivering, after elections they face pressures by lobbies and forget people’s interests. Case in point, current Panjab. Congress has been in power for 4 years but nothing much seems to have changed from when SAD-BJP was in power earlier for 10 years.

That is why the stance – Change the Society, Change the Governance.

Question 2: Who will this No Vote For BJP stance help?

The answer lies with the people. Ours is still a democracy, though very fraught and now increasingly fragile. In a democracy, people decide who should form governments. Pressure groups work to influence people but SKM is an advocacy group. In Panjab, 2017 they did not support SAD-BJP, Congress or AAP. Instead, they said, ‘Whoever you vote, in a few months you will come back here to protests on some issue or the other. We will be in solidarity.’

They are doing the same in Bengal and other states but with one change: educate common people on the issues if BJP is voted to power. This is in keeping with their stance against the current BJP government in the centre against whose farm laws they have been protesting for over 100 days in Delhi and more than six months in Panjab.

It is wrong to assign the responsibility of election results to SKM or to speculate if they have a secret agenda to benefit any one party – TMC or Left-Congress. They don’t. They have a deeper sense of the flaws of the system and will not let their platform be compromised by any political party they support which will later betray.

They are doing exactly what they are saying – highlight the issues with this government. If another government had passed similar laws, they would have highlighted issues with that government. They know the issues with elections in neo-liberal systems and overall seek to change the system itself, not one party or another.

—

I talk about the Bathinda rally briefly on page 519, ‘Panjab – Journeys Through Fault Lines’:
On 31 January 2017, I reached the biggest rally of the elections at Bathinda. It was a rally of small farmers and landless labourers. The non-political people or non-party people, the farmer and labour unions, had called the rally and decided not to tell anyone to vote for any party. They left the decision to the people. Their slogan was: votan wele Bapu kehnde, mudke saadi saar na lende (you plead with us for votes, later you don’t even turn to look at us).

This was the response of the poorest and the weakest to the charade of electoral politics.