"Agar khatm ho gyi ho mann ki baat, to ab kar lo kisaan ki baat": farmers roared at Kisan Mukti March

A farmer resting and smoking at Ramlila Maidan.
(From facebook wall of  Basant Kumar)

It’s 7 in the evening and groups of farmers were still arriving at the Ramlila Maidan. More than half full, farmers from several points in the capital- Majnu Ka Tila, Anand Vihar, Sarai Kale Khan and Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, were here from various states belonging to different organizations. “Sabah tk aise hi aate rhenge ye” said a local policeman on duty outside the main gate. The next leg of this march was, to encircle the parliament for their two demands: Full loan waiver and increased Minimum Support Price (MSP); through special parliament session.

Farmers at the Sansad Marg on day 2
(From facebook wall of Prashant Kanojia)

This Kisaan Mukti March was organized under the banner of All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), a coalition of 200 plus organizations formed in the wake of the Mandsaur ( in Madhya Pradesh) firing that killed six farmers in June 2017. Amidst lone voices of Bhutta, Chai, Guthka and loud Punjabi Gidda from the stage, I met Jairam Kabil, an aadiwasi from Tapi village in Gujarat’s Surat. “We produce Sugarcane and paddy but we only get 1200 rupees (per quintal) which use to be 2000 rupees three years back. Our problem is with Van Adhikar Adhiniyam (Forest Rights Act). 10-12 saal ho gye, 2006 ko niyam aaya tha lekin jangal ki jameen pr jinka kabza hai vo aaj tk khali nhi hua hai. Niyam ke teht jo dava form bharna hai, vo bhi nhi bhara gya.”

Women farmers from Haryana and Rajasthan at Sansad Marg
(Bhavey Nagpal)

Portable toilets, a group of doctors from AIIMS, langar from Gurudwara Bangla Sahib - were some of the arrangements made for the farmers. Lajwanti (name changed), a woman farmer whose son had to choose farming even after getting a B.A. degree, said, “We use to get 5000 rupees (per quintal) and now it’s down to only 2500 since this government (govt.) has taken charge.” Lashing out at the Modi govt., Lajwanti, from a village near Rohtak’s Meham district also claimed that, “Our crop is under water. Despite of insurance we are still unable to get the claim. Diesel is high, cylinder subsidy has been reduced, grandchildren are in private schools, cheap labour is unavailable; what can we do?”

Students from different universities in Delhi were there to volunteer for the farmers in Translation, designing posters, performing Nukkad Nataks and all above, for a moral support.

Slogan clad posters near Jantar Mantar
(Nitesh Yadav)

Manpreet Kaur, Professor of English at Delhi’s Inderprastha University, said, “It’s too unfair how they work too hard and still don’t get enough prices for their produce. Though, loan waiver is a short term measure but it’s some relief. The govt. doesn’t tend to accept it as a crisis. Their whole policies are based on industrialization, urbanization and slowly they are trying to make it corporate kind of farming.” His colleague, Raghuram who is Professor of Biotechnology, said, “The govts. never had the time to sit and discuss about this crisis. According to a study, there is a lot of misconception that farmers are getting a lot of subsides and good MSP. Reality apparently is, if you take the total government’s investment through various schemes and subsides, and if you take the other ways how they are indirectly taxed around 14% to 15%. So the input cost is rising and they are paying taxes which are more than the subsides they get.”

A farmer wearing a sidecap with slogan "Kisan hun, bikhari nhi"
(From facebook wall of Abhay Chawla)

“Notebandi ne kangal sanu kita, malamaal hoya vijay malya” sang Harnek Singh, a wheat farmer from Fatehgarh Sahib. Completing his self-written song, he further denied the allegation of Delhi’s pollution on stubble, and said “Stubble contributes only 8% and factories, construction, A/Cs contribute to rest 92% pollution. But we also suffer from smoke and most of the smoke travels towards Pakistan because of western waves. Farmers are already under burden, so we are bound to burn the stubble. Find a feasible solution like giving us Rs 6000 per acre or oil (diesel) so that we could destroy the stubble with any possible method.” 

Moving around the Maidan and meeting farmers, was a man who is often credited for mass farmer mobilization in March during Nashik to Mumbai Kisan Padyatra. On being asked about his opinion on whole this concept of Stubble Burning when these two states, Haryana and Punjab are blamed for pollution in Delhi, P. Sainath said, “I think this is an issue of eight days in a year. Your (government’s) pollution under the so called new economic reforms from 1991-92, you cut down the number of buses; you shut down public transport corporations, you privatized public transport corporations and you encourage this cult of private automobile with subsides and loans to middle classes to buy cars and now you can’t breathe in the city. Are you telling me that this is because of stubble only? Stubble is bad but it’s for eight days.” 

Farmers resting barefoot at Ramlila Maidan
(From facebook wall of Basant Kumar)

“State can do the service of giving them n thousand of rupees per hectare to dispose off the stubble by other means. You can do that but you are not willing to do that. You will go and give that money to corporations that have the machinery which will do it. I don’t enjoy the smoke of stubble either, I was in Punjab three-four weeks ago, please understand they also suffer from stubble burning. And as if every piece of stubble burned comes out to Delhi” he added.

Group of Tribals posing for a photo.
(Nitesh Yadav)  

A tribal group with bow-arrow in hand was posing for a photo. They are from Jumui in Bihar, who came to know about this March from Kisaan Mahasabha. Ilias Hemram who has around 2 acre of land said, “We live in a Naxal affected area and are bound to sell maize to private owners at Rs 10 or 12 but have to buy seeds costing 100 rupees. I applied for my land under Forest Rights Act (2006) years ago but I’m still to get the government slip. We even participated in a state-wide protest demanding two acre patta to each farmer but nothing bore fruit.” Sanjay Kumar from Lakhisarai, standing beside Ilias claimed furiously, “We are being crushed from both sides, govt. on one side and CRP forces on the other side. Many of my farmer friends were put in jail in the name of moist that turned out to be fake cases. Our lands are drying but govt. is not ready to help.” 

Farmers at Sansad Marg
(Nitesh Yadav)

Other than farmers and teachers there are some who are bound to think why their annadata is on road. One of them, Abhay Chawla, an IT professional from Gurugram, says, “Govt. is not ready to accept the problem. The way govt. function is, if I can’t see, its not there. You have to accept and engage in a dialogue. These farmers here are not stupid and these are your voter too. At the end of the day what you are talking about development is not there and they are not lying. If for a 2 lakh loan a farmer is in jail why can’t ambani or adani? What is the argument that they provide jobs? But farmers also provide jobs. Govt. has to see if they are a welfare state? If yes than why there are a large majority of people distressed? If i was the govt., than agriculture minister should have been here. Actually the pm should have been here. You call yourself poor, they are also poor.” 

 The protest paved the way for two political leaders -- Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal -- to come together on the same stage for the first time, along with representatives of like-minded parties like NCP Pres. and ex-agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, National Conference Pres. Farooq Abdullah, Ex-JDU Pres. Sharad Yadav, CPI (M) Pres. Sitaram Yechuri, CPI Pres. D. Raja etc. Despite the tall promises, the neglect of Indian farmers by the successive govts., has been the cause of untold suffering of the farmers. The policies of successive govts. have failed to correct the imbalance between the workforce engaged in agriculture and the sector's contribution to the GDP. New policies for the rural sector in general and farmers in particular is the crying need of the hour.

A farmer reading a book featuring Bhagat Singh
(From facebook wall of Basant Kumar)

(The writer recorded the views and comments of above people during two day Kisan Mukti March on 29th and 30th November at Ramlila Maidan and Sansad Marg.)