EIGHT months after the victorious suspension of the historic farmers’ struggle against the BJP central government’s three farm laws, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) revived itself in its national meeting held at Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh on July 3, 2022. There had been two national meetings earlier, one at the Singhu border on January 15, and the other at Delhi on March 14. However, both these meetings were marked by controversy, especially over the decision of some of the Punjab kisan organisations forming two political parties and contesting the Punjab state assembly elections. After patient but concerted efforts by the SKM Coordination Committee for several months, the July 3 meeting was a great success.

Around 200 delegates from 15 states of the country participated in the SKM meeting. The meeting was presided over by the SKM Coordination Committee that comprised Darshan Pal, Hannan Mollah, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Rakesh Tikait and Yogendra Yadav. It was conducted by Ashok Dhawale. The AIKS representatives who were present included P Krishnaprasad (centre), Inderjit Singh and Sumit (Haryana), Major Singh Punnawal (Punjab) and Bharat Singh (Uttar Pradesh). Three important decisions regarding the farmers’ movement, and also some other organisational decisions, were taken unanimously in this meeting.

The SKM expressed its resentment against the union government which has completely reneged on the written promises made to the farmers when the Morcha was lifted on December 9, 2021. Neither has the committee on MSP been formed, nor have most of the false cases registered against the farmers during the agitation been withdrawn. The government is trying to introduce the Electricity Bill in parliament. It is not even ready to consider the biggest demand of the farmers, the legal guarantee of minimum support price. 

In protest against this betrayal by the government, “Protest against Betrayal” public meetings will be organised at the district level, from the beginning of the monsoon session of parliament on July 18-31, Martyrdom Day of Shaheed Udham Singh, across the country. At the end of this campaign, on July 31, a chakka jam of all the major highways across the country will be organised from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. Due care will be taken to ensure that the common public is not inconvenienced by this programme.

It was also decided that the farm organisations will mobilise unemployed youth and ex-servicemen against the Agnipath scheme, which is anti-national and anti-youth as well as anti-farmer. To expose the Agnipath scheme, ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ conferences will be organised across the country from August 7-14, in which ex-servicemen and unemployed youth will also be invited.

Ajay Mishra Teni’s continuance in the union cabinet, even 10 months after the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre is a cruel joke on the law and order situation of the country. From the beginning, SKM has been committed to ensure justice to the farmers, and has been providing legal and other assistance to the families of the victims. To raise this issue strongly, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of independence, SKM will organise a 75-hour mass dharna at Lakhimpur Kheri on August 18-19-20, in which farmers from across the country will participate.

In this meeting, the growing repression on farmers and human rights movements was condemned. SKM condemned the slapping of false cases against farmers leader Ashish Mittal in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, lathi-charge on farmers protesting against Adani’s high-voltage wire in Farakka, Bengal, and repression of protesting farmers in Chhattisgarh. The arrests of social activists and journalists such as Teesta Setalvad, R B Sreekumar, and Mohammed Zubair, and the continued incarceration of Sanjiv Bhatt, indicate increasing repression on democratic rights across the country. SKM declared that it stood with all these activists and organisations in this democratic struggle.

On the issue of Punjab elections, 16 organisations which were suspended from the SKM in January, were re-admitted in the SKM, after they publicly disassociated themselves from the Samyukta Samaj Morcha (SSM). It was also decided to expel the ‘Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangh’ headed by Chandrasekhar Kodihalli from the SKM, since an enquiry by the Karnataka SKM established corruption charges against him after a sting operation by sections of the media.

In another important decision, a copy of the draft guidelines of the SKM was circulated to all the participants, all kisan organisations would study them and give their suggestions within a month, after which the guidelines would be finalised in the next SKM meeting. Some other organisational decisions were also taken. 

SKM expressed confidence that its doors will always be open to all the farmers and farmers’ organisations of the country, and expressed hope that the struggle of the farmers against this oppressive government would become more intense and powerful.

PROTESTS AGAINST AGNIPATH SCHEME

Earlier, on June 24, a nationwide day of protest against the Agnipath scheme was observed by the SKM. Farm organisations, trade unions, civil society organisations, and student-youth organisations came together in a strong protest against the anti-military, anti-farmer, anti-youth and anti-national scheme. When the central government is bent upon destroying the spirit of the slogan ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’, it is the duty of the farmer’s movement to stand shoulder to shoulder with the jawans in this struggle. The Central Trade Unions (CTUs) also released a strong statement against the Agnipath scheme and called for nationwide protest demonstrations against it on June 24.

It is also significant to note that an overwhelming number of those who join the defence forces come from the peasantry. The jawan of this country is a kisan in uniform. An army job is tied to the honour and economic strength of lakhs of farmer families. It is a matter of shame for the country that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who started his victory campaign by rallying ex-servicemen with the promise of ‘One Rank One Pension’, has now launched this scheme of ‘No Rank No Pension’. This government, stunned by its defeat at the hands of the farmer’s movement, has now begun another ploy to take revenge on the farmers.

It was against all this that, on June 24, peaceful demonstrations were held and memorandums were submitted at district and block headquarters. Widespread protests were held in hundreds of different locations in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, and other states.

The farm unions placed the following demands before the president of India – cancellation of Agnipath scheme immediately and completely, restoring regular recruitment in the army against the previous 1,25,000 vacancies and about 60,000 posts to be vacant this year, ongoing recruitment to be completed and in lieu of non-recruitment for the last two years, age relaxation of two years to be given to the youth for general recruitment, no imposition of the condition to make an affidavit, withdrawal of all false cases registered against youth involved in anti-Agnipath protests, and release of arrested youth.

SKM termed the Agnipath Scheme a big fraud upon the nation, for the youth aspiring to join the armed forces, and for the farmer families of the nation. SKM said, “Stopping the recruitment process which had started in 2020-21 is playing with the dreams of the youth, and reducing the number of recruits in the army, reducing the length of service to four years, and ending pension is an injustice to all the youth and families who saw the armed forces as a career along with the service of the country”. It is a great injustice to the youth to throw three-fourths of the Agniveers on the roads after four years of service. SKM also said, “Replacing the regiment's social character with ‘All Class All India’ recruits would be a huge blow to the regions and communities that have served the nation through the army for generations. These include areas like Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, western Uttar Pradesh and eastern Rajasthan”.

SKM termed the Agnipath Scheme as part of a wider scheme of this government to establish company rule over agriculture. All permanent government jobs are being given on contract or changed into contract jobs, the national resources are being sold to private companies at a pittance, and the policy of the whole country is being made to serve the interests of a few corporate houses. All such policies are being hidden from the public and public representatives, and those who oppose them are being brutally repressed.

SKM also said “It is surprising that the government did not follow any minimum procedure before announcing such big and far-reaching changes. No ‘pilot’ exercise of the new recruitment process was done anywhere. There was no discussion on these proposals before either house of parliament or the parliamentary standing committee on defence affairs. No consultation was ever held with the stakeholders (aspirants of recruitment, serving jawans and officers, public representatives of the areas of intensive recruitment and general public) who were affected by this scheme”.

The SKM strongly opposed and condemned the withholding of Twitter accounts allied with the farm movement on the instructions of the union government. Twitter has withheld about a dozen Twitter accounts in India, including the Twitter handle @kisanektamorcha allied with the farm movement, without any warning. Among them are also important accounts like Tractor to Twitter. It is significant that the union government chose the day of emergency to take this anti-farmer step. The night of 25/26 June 1975, when emergency was imposed in the country, is considered a black day in the democracy of India. By the anti-people provision of the Emergency, the government of India adopted an authoritarian rule, and the voices raised against the government were crushed. Similarly, on that very day, the BJP has put pressure on Twitter to shut down the voice of these Twitter accounts questioning the government, due to which these accounts have been withheld by Twitter.

When the farmers’ movement started, various kinds of misinformation and false news were being spread against the movement. The youth who were active in the farmers’ movement tried to bring the voice of farmers to the world through innovative measures like Kisan Ekta Morcha, Tractor to Twitter, etc. These accounts had millions of followers. During the farmers’ movement that lasted more than a year, these accounts bravely and diligently reported on the movement’s activities, and raised the issue of the oppression of the movement and the protesters by the government. Through these channels, the voice of farmers came out of the villages to big cities and around the world, and in a real sense the voice of farmers reached from tractor to twitter. The banning of such a strong voice of farmers-labourers on digital platforms by the government is not only dangerous for democracy, but is also a living example of an undeclared Emergency.