Farmers Defy All Restrictions To Join Mahapanchayat in Delhi

For the last one month, farmers have been sitting in protest regarding their demand for Minimum Support price (MSP) and various other issues, but the government has failed to adhere to a solution. On Thursday, a mahapanchayat was held in Delhi to discuss the next course of action.

With elections round the corner, the farmers, which seems to only be respected in books and lectures, are out sitting in harsh conditions and losing lives on field as well on protest sites as well.

The ‘sankalp patra’ or letter of resolution adopted at the mahapanchayat by the SKM called for protests against the BJP across the country, under the banner of a “united peoples’ movement” against the “corporate, communal, dictatorial regime”, as well as observing March 23 as “save democracy from the threat of money and muscle power day” in all villages to protest the BJP having fielded Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni from Lakhimpur Kheri for the Lok Sabha polls.

Farmers from different parts of the country, including Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka, UP and West Bengal, attended the mahapanchayat, having arrived in Delhi in trains, buses, and their own vehicles.

Farmers listen to union leaders at Ramlila Maidan. Photo credit: Nikita Jain

The Citizen spoke to the farmers – both with land and landless – who had come from far away places only to attend the mahapanchayat and request the government to hear their voice.

Sitting in the screeching sun was 70-year-old Babu Ram who hailed from Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad. A small-time farmer who has three acres of land, Ram has joined the protest for the first time.

Babu Ram (middle) along with other farmers at Ramlila Maidan. Photo credit: Nikita Jain

“Farming has changed mainly due to climate change. Rain has become unpredictable and it has ruined our crops. Although nothing has changed in this country for the farmers, we have come here with others so that the government listens to us,” he told The Citizen.

From a humble background, Ram belongs to a Scheduled Tribe community and started working on the field when he was young. “Last time we had not joined the protest but this time we have come looking at the situation,” he said as Udiya, who had joined him from the same village, nodded beside him.

Udiya said that there is a scam going on with farmers and they are human beings whose demand should be heard. “In our village one of the farmers died and they put a loan on a dead man’s name,” she said.

Angry with the situation, Udiya, who is also a farmer, said that they collectively decided to join the protest. “The government does nothing. We are dying due to starvation. We don’t even get one fourth of what we invest in farming. They also snatched away our forests, our land and our livelihoods,” Ram said angrily.

The farmers also said that they have more demands like pardons of their electricity bills. “We want free gas cylinders and not many of us have lands we demand that. Those like me who do have land, we don’t have a house and we don’t earn enough to build a house. We need the government’s help in all this, but we are just ignored,” Ram said.

Many of them said that the situation for the farmers has not improved no matter which government has come. This time, they have come with hope that their demands be met so that they can also aspire to live a better life.

The situation for most of the farmers seemed similar as they struggled to live a normal life and provide for their family; the increasing expenses are only making things more difficult.

Ravi Shankar who hails from Mirzapur District in Uttar Pradesh meanwhile said that one of the major issues in their village is water.

“Farmers don’t get water on time and whenever the water does come in canals, it is for a limited time. Due to this the crops get destroyed. We farmers need water on time. If we get food when we are thirsty, the body won’t accept it, likewise a farmer needs water and manure on time for good crop,” he said.

Farmers from Uttar Pradesh join the protest in Delhi. Photo credit: Nikita Jain

Coming from the Dalit community and facing casteism, Shankar who owns three acres of land said that the struggles of getting seed and water on time make everything hard.

“Our life is filled with struggle. I will, however, not just blame this government and say only Modi is to be blamed, but the previous governments have also done nothing. Everyone has just exploited farmers and labourers,” he said.

He also said that no proper law or policy has been introduced by any government to ease the pain of the farmers. On asking how MSP impacts the farmers, Shankar said that when farmers won’t have any land, they he will have nothing.

“The little money that farmers get is not used for themselves but for the crops. If they are not even making a profit from their crop, then how will they sustain? The amount that has been invested for the crops needs to at least come back for us to eat food,” he said.

Shankar further said that big land farmers are easily able to sell their crops by the Baniyas who rule the market but small farmers struggle for the same. “There are government centres but even there the crops of big farmers are sold and the Baniyas do not give proper rates for our crops and that is where the disparity lies,” he said.

Many farmers, Shankar explained, are small-time farmers in his district.

Most of the tribal and Dalit communities are either landless labourers or have small acre land.

A young Saurabh Kumar is sitting with his peers reading a pamphlet in hand. On asking why he has joined the protest Kumar said that he does not own any land and works on the field of upper caste farmers. Working 12 hours a day, Kumar does not get paid the way he should for his labour.

“The disparity we face is the reason I am here because landless labourers like me are angry with the situation,” he told The Citizen.

Kumar also said the promise of MSP by the government not being fulfilled is a big deal for farmers. “Many farmers are losing their land as they are in debt and are not able to fulfill it. They are not getting half of what they invest,” he said.

Kumar earns Rs. 200 to Rs. 300 per day, depending on the work, for his labour. There are times when he has to work seven days a week. “The expenses are increasing. Everything is expensive due to which farmers and labourers have no choice but to work under harsh conditions,” he said.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of 37 farm unions, which gave the call for the ‘mahapanchayat’ on February 22 at a meeting in Chandigarh, got a no-objection certificate for the gathering from the Delhi Police and municipal corporation.

The Delhi Police allowed farmers to hold the 'mahapanchayat' with the condition of gathering not exceeding 5,000, no tractor trolleys, no march at the Ramlila Maidan.

However, the number exceeded on Thursday as thousands of farmers from different parts of the country joined the protest.

The police also issued a traffic advisory for the commuters to avoid roads leading to central Delhi, they said.

The “mahapanchayat” was held at a time when other farmer unions under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and SKM (Non-Political), splinter groups of the SKM, have been holding sit-ins at Shambhu and Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana border for the past one month after their “Delhi Chalo” march was halted by security forces.

Thousands of farmers joined the mahapanchayat in Delhi. Photo credit: Nikita Jain

Farmers have been demanding legislation ensuring a legal status for MSP for their crops. Additionally, they demand implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations for MSP, pensions for farmers and agricultural workers, and the waiver of farm debts.

While the SKM is not part of the “Delhi Chalo” march, it has extended support to the splinter groups at both the sites.

According to the SKM, farmers would adopt a ‘Sankalp Patra’ or ‘letter of resolution’ at the Mahapanchayat to intensify the fight against the “pro-corporate, communal, dictatorial policies of the Modi government, to fight to save farming, food security, livelihood and the people from corporate loot.”

“The withdrawal of subsidies made cost of production skyrocketed and denial of remunerative income along with the corporatisation of crop insurance under PMFBY- corporate Insurance companies has looted Rs.57000 crore since 2017- deeply indebted farmers and agriculture workers. But Modi Government did not give any single rupee as loan waiver to farmers despite 1,00, 474 farmers committed suicide during 2014-22. However, the big Corporate Houses received loan waivers for a whopping Rs 14.68 lakh crore during 2014-23,” SKM said in a statement.

The Mahapanchayat appealed to “unleash massive and strong protest against BJP across the country under the banner of United People’s Movement”.

The unions also decided to observe March 23 as Save Democracy from the threat of Money and Muscle Power Day in all villages across India to protest the BJP giving Kheri seat to the alleged murderer of Lakhimpur Kheri farmers, Ajay Mishra Teni thus, expose the Corporate-Criminal- Corrupt nexus that control BJP.

“In the context of the forthcoming declaration of the general election to the Lok Sabha, the Modi Regime eventually will be ceased as a caretaker administration. People cannot expect anything good to deliver for farmers and workers if they elect BJP again. In a democracy the people are the supreme and now the situation has developed to the extent that the people of India have to emerge as the real political power to fight and push back the corporate power from the corridors of state power in order to protect the livelihood of the basic producing classes and protect the democratic secular Constitution of India,” a statement by SKM said.

Addressing the gathering, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said, “Governments will try to break the Samkyukta Morcha, be mindful… when the agitation happens, they will say it is an agitation of a particular state or a particular community. With the agitations in the past, what has happened? Desh me Sikh samaj ko badnaam karne ki badi sajish chali hui hain… when there is an agitation, everybody should be together.”

He added: “Whichever governments take decisions against farmers, we will continue our protest against them, no matter which party that is. Our agitation will continue.”

The farm union leaders also said that if the government fails to adhere to their demands, then it should be ready to face the consequences by the farmers.