Posts Tagged ‘Morcha’
Facebook: December 3, 2020
Dilli-wallas, media, folks who wish to support the farmers protesting the draconian, undemocratic Farm Bills are stunned that the protesters do not look malnourished and needy. The protesters are in fact treating all who reach the protests sites to langar, insisting that citizen allies, supporters are all well fed. You see, these protesters, in fact, most of rural India is like that: gracious, warm, and hospitable.
Folks who wish to support the farmers are also stunned that the protesters do not need their material or cash help. For urban folks this raises the question: why do these farmers in track pants, with big vehicles, some even speaking English, not need anything from us? How can then we do something? What can we do?
These are good questions.
For answers to these, my friends, we need to do some homework.
We need to question what exactly is our idea of a protester? Why should protesters only be poor victims so that by participating a bit through cash or kind we can feel assured we are in solidarity with them or their cause?
Let us break it down: the beginning of all civilizations is in agriculture, then comes industrialization, and then services. None of these stages end for the next stage to begin. If a society moves to industrial, it does not mean agriculture has ended. It just means, the society has started focussing more on industry. It also means the society is somewhat taking the primary stage of civilization – agriculture – for granted. The question then is, is the stage taken for granted – agriculture – steadily doing well?
Now, through accident of birth or through personal or familial effort and often through caste, we find ourselves at a later stage – say a call centre job (service). When we have such a job, our income is assured. We can buy what we want or need. We stop caring about how say a sack of wheat flour, or a new gadget, is produced or manufactured. We stop asking questions if those spheres of civilizations – agriculture or industry – remain fair. We start believing that money is the primary token of exchange. The more we earn, the more agriculture and industry will serve us.
These protesters are rejecting money. Therein lies our primary shock and their great advantage. They are rejecting money because they already have whatever money can buy – food, warm clothes, and so on. They have travelled from Panjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, now Gujarat and Maharashtra, prepared with what they need for the next six months – the chilly winters. They have come with tractors and trollies filled with rations, bedding, even some furniture.
Urban India, they do not need what your money can buy. What they need is your solidarity. What they need is that you question why a popularly elected government takes your vote and screws you.
The protesters have come to camp. This is where we need to learn whether a protest is a dharna or a morcha. (Thanks Komal Jb Singh for mentioning this critical aspect.) A dharna is when protesters present their demands to ‘powers that be’ and ask to be heard. A morcha is when protesters assert themselves and challenge the ‘powers that be’ to face them.
The protesters rejected Burari grounds because to win against the government, they know that the choice of the site for the morcha has to be of one’s own determination. In Burari, the government would have surrounded them. Here they have gheraoed Delhi.
Morcha is when you are prepared to take it for long. Morcha is where langar is prepared by the people, served to whoever comes, including the police. Go, join the protests, by blessed by the langar. Dilli, the annadatas have come to your door. Come, stand with them, against the government’s draconian laws.
A morcha is not bound by time, but by the purpose of the cause. In opting for the morcha approach, the protesters are inspired by Panjab’s valorous history. When the Sikh Gurus used to go to war, they used to put up morchas – ready for the long haul.
That is why, to me, this is now a battle between seven years of current Hindutva government’s propaganda machinery (which is all they have) versus 700 years of Panjab’s battle history with Delhi.
The farmers just made curd from milk. They are are now settled in their camps. Which means, the vigil has begun. Panjabi has the same word for milk curdling and a vigil – Jaag.