Jaibans Singh
In February 2024, a farmer agitation was spearheaded by the Jagjit Singh Dallewal led BKU-Sidhupur and Kisan Majdoor Morcha (KMM). The agitating unions declared that they would move to Delhi on tractors in order to press their demands with the Government of India, specifically, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They called this movement “Delhi Cooch.” The word Cooch means mobilisation for war. Clearly the intentions of the farmers were suspect.
The Government of Punjab did not make any effort to stop the movement of the agitators unions whose strength was only a few thousand along with a few hundred tractors.
The Government of Haryana, however, was unwilling to get into a situation that would cause a huge loss to the state due to an indefinite blockade of the roads and communication, as had happened in 2020. The movement of the protestors was halted on the borders of Haryana at Shambhu and Khanauri by the Haryana Police by blocking the highway.
The Government of India deputed two central ministers, Shri Arjun Munda and Shri Piyush Goyal to hold talks with the union leaders. These ministers made several trips to Chandigarh to conduct the talks and gave many positive ideas to break the deadlock. The union leaders, sadly, remained adamant for immediate agreement to their demands. The talks were inconclusive and the agitation continued.
When the agitators attempted to push through the police barricade, there was some violence in which many police personnel sustained grievous injuries. The agitators also suffered some injuries. Despite this unprovoked violence the agitators could not go break the barricade.
The end result is that, since February 2024 the National Highway 44 (NH44) that connects the states of Haryana Punjab, Himachal and the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh with Delhi and the rest of the country is closed at the entry point to Punjab. All traffic has to use other long detours to get through.
This action by the farmers has caused tremendous inconvenience and financial loss to the people of the affected aforementioned states. It is also a grave security risk in case there is some natural disaster to deal with or a grave threat to national security.
Breaking the Deadlock
Now, in view of the lack of will and demonstrated inability of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led government of Punjab to break the deadlock with farmer unions, the Union government has taken the initiative to invite the leaders of the agitating farmers for resumption of the talks that were initiated in 2024.
The invitation was extended on 19 January by Shri Priya Ranjan, Joint Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, at a meeting with farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal who, at the time of the invite, had been on a fast unto death for 54 days at the Khanauri border.
The talks are scheduled to be held on 14 February at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, Chandigarh. “I hope Dallewal breaks his fast and participates in the talks,” said Priya Ranjan after the meeting.
Other senior farmer union leaders including Kaka Singh Kotra and Abhimanyu Kohar persuaded Dallewal to take medical assistance to which he agreed while declaring that he would not partake any food till the demands were met. The other farmers who had started the fast in support broke the same after a few days.
As preparations for the talks begin¸ it is necessary to identify the fallacies on which the posture taken by the farmers rests. Such an exercise will assist in addressing the issue on the basis of facts and ground realities.
The Blockade Causing Inconvenience and Financial Loss
The Fallacy of SKM
During the agitation of 2020 the farmer unions decided to come together under a single body in order to press their demands in a better manner. This led to the formation of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) as an umbrella organisation of more than 40 Kisan unions, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. It was run by a seven-member coordination committee. The main members in the coordination committee from Punjab were Jagjit Singh Dallewal (President BKU-Sidhupur) and Balbir Singh Rajewal (president BKU-Rajewal).
Thus, SKM is merely a coordination committee created for facilitating the joint efforts of the Union in the agitation of 2020. Once the agitation was rolled back, SKM ceased to exist. It was however, kept alive with the intention of bringing all Unions together which did not happen.
In this agitation of 2024, the farmer union leaders wish to give an impression that the agitation is spearheaded by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM). This is a fallacy. A majority of the members of the SKM are not participating in this agitation even as desperate attempts are being made by the agitators to rope them in or, at least, give an impression of unity.
The agitating farmer unions who are no more than a miniscule minority are now desperately attempting to get other unions to join them in the talks with the government scheduled for 19 February 2025. Dallewal is making desperate appeals for unity. “I don’t understand why it is taking so long for the formation of a united front. Multiple rounds of meetings are taking place. What is the need? I haven’t gone for the meetings, so I don’t know what is happening,” he said in a press conference on 28-29 January.
Apparently, there are very few takers for the rigid posture that Dallewal and his few supporters have adopted. This fact is causing desperation to the Dallewal camp as it realises that it does not have requisite support to compel the government to accede to their demands that have a national connotation.
Justification of the Demands
The agitating farmers maintain that they are merely asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fulfil the commitment that he made at the time of roll back of the agitation of 2020. To this extent their demands are
- Legislation of a legal guarantee for MSP on crops from the government.
- Withdrawal of cases registered during the 2020-21 agitation.
- Withdrawal from the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
- Punishment to the accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence incident.
To say that the prime minister had given a commitment to legalise MSP and implement the other matters is a fallacy. The Prime Minister declared that a committee comprising representatives of Farm Unions, all states, centre and experts in the field of Agriculture will be convened to look into the matter in a holistic manner. Changes in the existing structure will be considered on the basis of the recommendations of the committee. Ever since, some farmer unions, especially from Punjab, have been avoiding participation in the committee by not delegating their representatives. BKU (Sidhupur) that is spearheading the current agitation is one such union that is refusing to be a part of the committee deliberations.
Support at the National Level
The agitating union leaders attempted to give an impression that farmers of all states are with them. They predicted a big defeat for the BJP in the parliamentary polls of 2024. Despite insistence of being non-political and non-partisan, the farmers directly interfered in the campaign of the BJP candidates in Punjab.
The contention of the agitators fell on its face when BJP emerged as a clear winner in the elections and formed the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a record third time. In Punjab also the BJP candidates did well but could not get a seat. Within a few months of the Government formation in the centre the state of Haryana also went to polls for its Legislative Assembly. Here too the BJP won a clear majority.
The election results in the centre as well as Haryana were a clear indicator that the farmers from other parts of India and especially from Haryana did not favour the agitation in Punjab. There exists no doubt that the agitation is a localised initiative of two small unions of Punjab one of which has got nothing to do with agriculture.
Dallewal on Fast – Emotional Coercion
Emotional Coercion
The deadlock caused frustration and despair to the union leaders who forged. To regain momentum, Jagjit Singh Dallewal went on fast unto death for realisation of the demands on 26 November 2024.
This extreme step is being seen as unreasonable coercion, especially so, in a vibrant democracy like India where every matter can be resolved by dialogue and where the government has always maintained an open door policy for such dialogue. Fast unto death also goes against the tenets of the Sikh religion to which Dallewal belongs.
Positive Initiative by the Centre
Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan was given the portfolio of Union Agriculture Minister in the NDA-3 Government. The agitating union could have reached out to him to resume talks especially since he has evolved a system of holding regular meetings with leaders of farmer unions from across the country.
The agitating union leaders, however, preferred to hold on to their egoistic demand of going to Delhi through Haryana to put across their point. They want special treatment which is not necessary under the open house policy being followed by the ministry.
The Fault Lines of AAP Policy
As the process of talks commences, it would be necessary to analyse the posture of the AAP led government of Punjab in this imbroglio. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) During the campaigning for the 2022 assembly elections had promised the farmers as follows: –
- MSP for 23 crops within minutes of coming to power.
- Roll back of the cases filed against loan defaulting farmers.
- Compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for families of farmers who have committed suicides
- Waiver of all farm loans.
Many other sops for the farmers were also announced along with a promise that the party would never allow a situation to arise where farmers would have to agitate for their demands and that no farmer would ever need to commit suicide under the party’s rule.
The AAP government of Punjab failed miserably in standing by the promises given and within no time the farmers led by their union leaders were on the road in protest for multiple reasons. Some went over and above their basic demands to include tardy procurement of Sugarcane and other products despite timely support from the centre.
Under pressure, AAP deftly turned the focus of the agitators towards the centre when it is the state government that needs to ameliorate their suffering.
Conclusion
The roll back of the farm laws in 2021, as was demanded by various farmer Unions, especially those from Punjab, should have created a degree of satisfaction among the farming community of Punjab. Sadly, it was not so. With not much coming from AAP the union leaders directed their attention towards the centre once again.
There are many fallacies and fault lines governing the position and posture of the farmers. Now that the centre has reached out to resume talks, there is desperation within the agitators since they have no grounds to press their argument.
An attempt by them to adopt a rigid posture under the impression that the centre is on the back foot would backfire. The Union leaders should understand the point of the centre and admit all contentious matters into the domain of debate and discussion. An attitude of this nature will help both parties understand each other better and will definitely pay long term dividends.
The best approach for the farmer unions would be to sit for the discussion with a positive frame of mind and a conviction that the NDA led Union Government keeps the interest of farmer’s paramount in its policies. The representatives of the Government should remain sensitive to the issues raised by the Unions on the conviction that they hold the pulse of the farmers. If such an attitude is adopted, then the talks will identify affirmative steps for the future.
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