SUCH fascistic State repression has never been witnessed in India for the last several decades. In the wake of the BJP-RSS government-sponsored conspiracy of violence on Republic Day, that was outlined in these columns last week, the Modi regime has begun a massive crackdown on the historic farmers’ struggle, which will soon complete 75 days. The government and its police have now turned the three farmers’ protest sites at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur into open jails. The ‘annadatas’ of our country are being treated as foreign invaders. No other central government in independent India has ever done this near the national capital itself. 

But it is a glorious tribute to this unprecedented farmers’ struggle that it has not only withstood this multi-fanged State repression, but has in fact increased its defiant resistance massively over the last one week. Thousands of new farmers, men, women and even children, are thronging all the five borders around Delhi, including the Shahjahanpur and Palwal borders, every day. Mahapanchayats of tens of thousands of farmers are being held in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Huge meetings are being held at the freed toll plazas in Haryana and elsewhere. All of them are giving clarion calls to strengthen the struggle manifold.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) has given a call for a nationwide Chakka Jaam (road blockade) between 12 noon and 3 pm on February 6, to denounce this savage and reprehensible repression of the BJP central government on the farmers. Lakhs of farmers from all over the country will block both national highways and state highways on that day. The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) has called for a week-long campaign From February 3-10 in villages across the country against the condemnable repression on farmers by the BJP-RSS central government and its police. 

Lakhs of electricity employees led by the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers, a broad based united platform of all national federations, observed a one-day total national strike on February 3. Their major demands were to scrap the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020, withdraw the process of privatisation of electricity from the public sector to private companies in all states and union territories, and cancel all existing private licenses and franchises in the power sector. This is also one of the important demands of the ongoing farmers’ struggle. The Central Trade Unions (CTUs), the AIKSCC and the AIKS fully supported this strike and held solidarity actions.

The SKM nationwide call to observe January 30, the martyrdom day of Mahatma Gandhi, received massive response all over the country. Lakhs of peasants, agricultural labourers, workers, employees, women, youth and students came on the streets, observed a one day fast and held large demonstrations against the BJP-RSS government and in solidarity with the farmers’ struggle at thousands of places all over the country.

PEASANT UNITY TRIUMPHS
OVER ALL CONSPIRACIES
State repression began immediately after the government-managed violence at the Red Fort and elsewhere on January 26. The Delhi police have filed 44 FIRs against hundreds of farmers and their leaders. 122 farmers from Punjab and Haryana have been arrested. 16 of them are below 20 years of age, while 10 are over 50 years of age. The youngest is 18 year-old Deepak from Kaithal and the oldest is 80 year-old Gurmukh Singh, a small farmer owning one and a half acre of land in Shamaspur village in Fatehgarh Sahib district of Punjab. He served loyally in the Indian Army and retired over three decades ago. Over 30 protesters are still missing and habeas corpus petitions will be filed to locate them. Several tractors have been confiscated and notices sent to their owners. Look out notices have been sent to over 60 farmer leaders.

From January 27, the government began its attacks on the protest camps around Delhi. It first evicted hundreds of farmers from the Palwal border. But now the Palwal border protest site has been fully restored with thousands of farmers pouring in. The BJP regime then turned its attention to evicting farmers from the Ghazipur border. On January 28, hundreds of police personnel and RSS-BJP goons started intimidating the farmers there. AIKS general secretary Hannan Mollah, joint secretaries K K Ragesh, MP and Badal Saroj, and finance secretary P Krishna Prasad visited there to ensure full support. BKU leader Rakesh Tikait, AIKS senior leader from Uttar Pradesh D P Singh and others have been holding the fort at Ghazipur for the last two months. It was then that BKU leader Rakesh Tikait made his now-famous emotional appeal in front of the media. This galvanised the peasantry in UP, Haryana and elsewhere. It was this that turned the tide and thousands of peasants from these states started pouring in at Ghazipur.

At Singhu, Tikri and Shahjahanpur borders, the BJP-RSS tried a new tack. They brought in hundreds of their goons who posed as ‘locals’. With police support, they started condemning the desecration at the Red Fort, began their stone-throwing attacks on farmers and ordered them to vacate. They were beaten back by the resilient farmers. These incidents had a massive reaction in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, from where again thousands of new farmers started pouring into all these three borders. The notorious RSS-BJP conspiracy to break the unity of the farmers of India on religious grounds by hoisting the Sikh flag at the Red Fort, thus trying to isolate and target the valiant Punjab peasantry, was resoundingly smashed.

On the evening of January 31, BJP and Sangh Parivar goons attacked the Kisan dharna at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. Many people including AIDWA district secretary Preeti Singh and SFI CEC member Akanksha Dhakad were injured in the attack. The BJP-RSS goons who led the attack also tore up photos of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and other icons at the venue. Now the farmers and people of Gwalior have hit back and huge protests have begun in support of the farmers struggle there.

The magnificent farmers’ struggle was not only saved, but was vastly strengthened by the peasantry of India acting in unison, transcending the barriers of religion, caste, language and also gender. Indeed, one of the most distinctive features of the peasant mobilisation after January 26 is the massive participation of thousands of women not only at the protest borders but also in the innumerable mahapanchayats and toll plaza public meetings that are being held in UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, MP and Punjab.  AIKS president Ashok Dhawale, AIKS Haryana state president Phool Singh Sheokand and CITU Haryana state vice president Surender Singh addressed several such huge public meetings of thousands of women and men at the toll plazas in Hisar and Jind districts of Haryana on February 2. The other great achievement of this struggle is the gradual loosening of caste and religious barriers and the coming together of people who were always socially apart traditionally. This is evident in thousands of villages. It is an inspiring glimpse of what can happen if peasants and workers come together as a class against a fascistic and communal government and the corporate lobby which is its bulwark. 

The Godi media and RSS-BJP hacks, who had begun triumphantly writing the obituary of the farmers struggle from January 26, were thrown on the defensive and had to eat humble pie.

TURNING PROTEST SITES
INTO OPEN JAILS
After this slap in the face, the BJP regime is now wreaking its vengeance on farmers by turning their protest sites into open jails. All the protest sites are now surrounded by multiple rows of barbed wire, iron spikes, concrete barriers, trenches and razor wire. Such a vicious attack is unheard of. Water and electricity connections have been cut off. Mobile toilets have been removed. Hundreds of local and commando units of the Delhi, UP and Haryana police, topped by a Rapid Action Force, have been stationed at all these protest borders. Internet services at all the borders and also in several districts of Haryana, have been suspended, creating innumerable difficulties for the people. Twitter handles of some farmer unions have been blocked at the instance of the union home ministry.

But the defiant resistance of farmers has only been strengthened by this government and police onslaught. Villages upon villages are coming forward with water tankers, food and all other essentials to sustain the farmers in their struggle against all these formidable odds. Several gurudwaras and the langars that they have been running tirelessly have played a truly magnificent role in this struggle for the last two and a half months. A people united can never be defeated. That is the true lesson of this iconic peasant struggle.

There have been vicious attacks on journalists who have been covering the farmers’ struggle in an objective manner. After January 26, totally false sedition cases including other ridiculous charges were filed against eminent journalists like Rajdeep Sardesai, Mrinal Pande, Siddharth Varadarajan, Zafar Agha, Vinod Jose and others. Mandeep Punia was arrested at the Singhu border on January 30 for no fault of his and was thrown into jail. He has just received bail.

The Editors Guild of India and the Press Club of India held a public meeting in Delhi that was attended by a large number of journalists. It deplored the vindictive vendetta of the central government. Several prominent journalists in this meeting flayed the authoritarian central government and said that the nation was descending into an undeclared emergency.

Nearly 20 opposition political parties in India came together and their MPs collectively boycotted the president’s address at the beginning of the budget session of parliament on January 29. This was a remarkable occurrence. They did this to support the valiant farmers’ struggle and to condemn the massive repression by the central government and its police.

On February 2, the opposition demanded a full discussion on the farmers’ struggle. When the government refused, there was pandemonium in both houses and several disruptions which led to adjournments. This session of parliament will see many more instances of confrontation of the opposition with the government on the issue of the farmers’ struggle. 

The union budget placed by the finance minister on February 1 with its anti-farmer, anti-agriculture and pro-corporate thrust only served to further fan the flames of the farmers’ anger. The SKM, the AIKSCC and the AIKS attacked the retrograde budget and called for a concerted nationwide mass campaign against it.