HECTIC preparations are on all over the country to make the June 26 call to ‘Save Agriculture, Save Democracy’ against the BJP-RSS Modi government a massive success. As noted last week, the call was given to mark the completion of seven months of the farmers’ struggle, and also the 46th anniversary of the imposition of the internal emergency by the then Congress regime. The people today are fighting the undeclared poisonous emergency of the Modi-led BJP-RSS regime. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s (SKM) call has been fully backed by the joint platform of Central Trade Unions (CTUs) and by several other mass organisations across the country.

PREPARATIONS BY
CLASS AND MASS FRONTS
On June 17, the central leadership of the CITU, AIKS and AIAWU held their meeting at the BTR Bhawan. On June 22, a meeting of these three class organisations along with the leaders of the three mass organisations AIDWA, DYFI and SFI was held online. Both meetings discussed and decided on the ways and means by which the June 26 struggle and the overall people’s struggle could be strengthened further in the days ahead.

Individual and joint circulars by the above organisations were issued to all their state units. In several states, joint meetings of these organisations were held to plan for the success of June 26. In some states like Maharashtra, meetings of Left and secular parties were held and they also decided to actively support and participate in the June 26 struggle.

On the evening of June 24, an online countrywide public meeting is organised jointly by CITU, AIKS and AIAWU. The presidium will comprise CITU president K Hemalata, AIKS president Ashok Dhawale and AIAWU president A Viajayaraghavan. The speakers will be CITU general secretary Tapan Sen, AIKS general secretary Hannan Mollah, CITU president K Hemalata, AIAWU general secretary B Venkat, AIKS vice president Amra Ram and AIAWU joint secretary Vikram Singh.

On the evening of June 26, another online countrywide public meeting is being planned by the Save Democracy Forum. It will be addressed by some prominent leaders from all over the country who faced imprisonment or underground life during the emergency of 1975-77.

Thousands of activists of the constituent organisations of the SKM, the CTUs and others are fanning out to villages, fields, factories and bastis to make this struggle a memorable success. Social media is also being widely used to propagate this campaign.     

It is expected that the dharnas outside every Raj Bhawan (governor’s residence) and the submission of memorandums to the president of India through the governors will be a massive struggle in almost all states. Large dharnas and demonstrations will also take place at innumerable district and tehsil/block centres throughout the country.

HARYANA MINISTERS
FACE FARMERS’ ANGER
For the last several weeks, ministers of the BJP-JJP Haryana state government have been facing the anger of farmers in their public programmes. This is also happening in Punjab. As part of their social boycott campaign, farmers led by the various constituent organisations of the SKM, including the AIKS, have been holding peaceful demonstrations, and showing black flags to the ministers of the crassly anti-farmer Haryana government.  Significantly, local body elections in Haryana are due to be held soon. They had to be postponed due to the Covid pandemic.

Among those who had to face peaceful protests of thousands of farmers are chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, deputy chief minister Dushyant Singh Chautala, home minister Anil Vij, agriculture minister J P Dalal, education minister Kanwarpal Gurjar, sports and youth affairs minister Sandeep Singh, women and child development minister Kamlesh Dhanda, BJP state president Om Prakash Dhankar, Babita Phogat and many other BJP-JJP leaders.

We have seen in earlier instalments in these columns how the Haryana government and its police unleashed repression in Hisar and Tohana, but had to backtrack under mass pressure.
 

DEFAMATION ATTEMPTS
BEATEN BACK
The valiant farmers have faced and victoriously repulsed several attempts by the Modi government, the BJP-RSS and the Godi media to defame their struggle from day one. They seize the slightest non-issue for launching their campaign of white lies and defamation.

For instance, on the night of June 16, a person called Mukesh from village Kasar, Bahadurgarh in Haryana, near the HP petrol pump adjoining the kisan tents at the Tikri border, committed suicide. The government and its police immediately began a defamation campaign, which was promptly taken up by the usual notorious sections of the Godi media.

The SKM published a special press bulletin on June 17 which laid out the facts as follows: “Yesterday night a person was seen around the HP petrol pump. Soon he poured petrol and set himself on fire. As soon as the kisan morcha volunteers noticed it, they rushed to douse the fire and save his life. They learnt that this attempted suicide was spurred by a conflict in his family. An employee from the petrol pump identified Mukesh and informed his family who took him to hospital. It is shocking that the farmers who tried their best to save an unknown person are now being implicated in attempt to murder.....SKM understands that the FIR (No. 0196/17 June, Sector 6, Bahadurgarh) names a person, Krishna, as accused. He has since been arrested. The FIR also insinuates that the protesting farmers had burnt him.....SKM appeals to the Haryana government to carry out a fair investigation in this matter and assures of its complete cooperation in bringing the truth of this case to light. We appeal to the public not to be taken in by yet another attempt to slander this historic movement.”

Another case relates to a twitter handle called ‘Tractor to Twitter’ which has always been supporting the farmers’ movement. Last month, without any valid reason whatsoever, the TV channel ‘Aaj Tak’ slapped a defamation suit against it in the Delhi High Court, demanding two crore rupees in damages. The SKM took up cudgels on behalf of this twitter handle that is being handled by young farmers, and decided to extend full legal support to them in this case. Apart from that, some other twitter handles of the constituent organisations in the SKM have been suspended. Internet blackouts at the kisan protest sites have been a regular feature.

STRUGGLE STRENGTHENS
Despite all this, the struggle keeps strengthening at the Delhi borders. Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, led by various constituents of the SKM, are returning to the borders every day. They also include impressive AIKS contingents. Indeed, AIKS is one of the very few organisations in this struggle that has representation at all the Delhi borders.

On June 17, the martyrdom day of Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi, who fell while bravely combating the British imperialists during India’s first war of independence, was observed at the Delhi borders. To commemorate the memory of the legendary ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh, who passed away last week, a race was organised at the Tikri border. On June 30, ‘Hul Kranti Divas’ will be observed, at which adivasi farmers from different parts will be invited to the Delhi borders.