Ashok Dhawale
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TENS of thousands of farmers from across the country gathered in the massive mahapanchayat organised by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on March 14, 2024. They resolved to punish the Modi-led BJP-RSS regime in the coming general elections for its anti-farmer and pro-corporate policies, and for its communal, casteist, corrupt, and authoritarian character. The day coincided with the shocking and scandalous revelations about the electoral bonds by the Election Commission of India (ECI), after the Supreme Court of India (SCI) cracked the whip on the recalcitrant State Bank of India (SBI). By another coincidence, March 14 also happened to be the Karl Marx Death Anniversary.
The overwhelming numbers in the Delhi mahapanchayat were from Punjab, followed by Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, states which are near Delhi. But good numbers also came from other nearby states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Delhi itself. Farmers came in representative numbers from other states in the country as well. They were joined by workers from nearby states who were mobilised by the Central Trade Unions (CTUs). Peasant women came in thousands and, like their men counterparts, stayed in the public meeting till the end. Like in all earlier SKM mass actions, the flags in this mahapanchayat too were a riot of colours – yellow, green, red, white, gold, black, and blue.
The sheer strength of the March 14 Delhi mahapanchayat of the SKM forcefully underlined the anger of the farmers of India against their consistent betrayal by the Modi regime. It also underscored the determination of the peasantry to punish their betrayers. Sensing this anger and determination of the farmers, the BJP central government this time did not have the guts to refuse permission to the SKM’s Delhi mahapanchayat. However, there were several instances of harassment of farmers from various states who were coming to Delhi. All the major television channels and newspapers were forced to cover the SKM meeting this time.
SERIES OF LARGE MASS ACTIONS
The call for the March 14 mahapanchayat had been given by the SKM general body meeting held at Chandigarh on February 22. The last few months have seen a series of large nationwide mass actions strengthening worker-peasant unity. The first ever all India worker-farmer convention at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi was organised on August 24, 2023. It adopted a 21-point demand charter. A black day was observed on October 3, the day of the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre. From November 26-28, huge mahapadavs were organised in front of the Raj Bhawans (governors’ mansions) in nearly all states, mobilising lakhs of workers and peasants.
On January 26, 2024, tractor parades were organised at the district level. On February 16, a grameen Bharat bandh and industrial/sectoral strike were held with massive participation. Again, on February 23, nationwide protests were held to denounce the BJP government and its police for the cold-blooded murder of a young farmer Shubhkaran Singh in police firing at the Punjab-Haryana border. On February 26, when the WTO Ministerial Summit began at Abu Dhabi, protests were held to warn against a surrender by the Modi regime on vital issues of minimum support price (MSP) and the public distribution system (PDS). The March 14 Delhi rally of the SKM was a culmination of all these large mass actions.
The main demands of these SKM-CTU joint struggles are as follows: minimum support price (MSP) at C2+50 per cent for all crops with guaranteed procurement; reduction by half of all input costs with restoration of fertilizer subsidy; complete loan waiver to small and middle farm households and agricultural workers to ensure their freedom from indebtedness; radical strengthening and expansion of the public distribution system (PDS); comprehensive pro-farmer crop insurance scheme to combat natural calamities; no hike in electricity tariff, no to prepaid metres, 300 units free electricity to all rural households and shops; minimum wage of Rs 26,000 per month for workers; repeal of the four labour codes; no privatisation of PSUs including railway, defence, electricity, coal, oil, steel, telecom, posts, transport, airports, port & dock, banks, insurance; education and health, employment as a fundamental right; no contractualisation of jobs, scrapping of fixed term employment; strengthen MGNREGS with 200 days work per person per year and Rs 600 as daily wage; restore old pension scheme, pension and social security to all in formal and informal economy, welfare boards for all categories of unorganised workers on the lines of Construction Workers Welfare Board; implementation of the LARR Act 2013 (Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013); implementation of the Forest Rights Act; dismissal of Ajay Mishra Teni and registration of murder case against him, and so on.
CALL OF THE DELHI MAHAPANCHAYAT
The public meeting at the Ramlila Maidan began at 10.30 am and continued for four hours. The presidium, the speakers, and the conducting committee together covered several main leaders of all the major organisations that are a part of the SKM. They included Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Rakesh Tikait, Hannan Mollah, Balbir Singh Rajewal, Ashok Dhawale, Rajaram Singh, Darshan Pal, Vijoo Krishnan, Tejinder Singh Virk, P Krishnaprasad, Ashish Mittal, Raminder Singh Patiala, Satyavan, Yudhvir Singh, Medha Patkar, Avik Saha, Gurnam Singh Chaduni, Baldev Singh Nihalgarh, Ravula Venkaiah, Shankar Ghosh, Sunilam, Ruldu Singh Mansa, Buta Singh Burjgil, Kulwant Singh Sandhu, Harmeet Kadian, Joginder Nain, Harinder Singh Lakhowal, Rajinder Singh Deepsinghwala, Manjeet Singh Dhaner, Suresh Koth, and many others. Leaders of the CTUs were also invited to be on the dais of the public meeting.
The SKM Delhi mahapanchayat unanimously adopted a sankalp patra (resolution) against the corporate, communal and dictatorial government. It called for countrywide mass protests to expose and punish the BJP regime for not implementing the agreement with the SKM dated December 9, 2021 regarding MSP at C2+50 per cent with guaranteed procurement to all crops; comprehensive loan waiver for farmers despite 1,00,474 farmers having committed suicide from 2014 to 2022; rapid privatisation of electricity, protecting Ajay Mishra Teni,the killer of farmers at Lakhimpur Kheri, against the killing of farmer Shubhkaran Singh and unleashing State repression on the farmers’ struggle; for a judicial enquiry into the same, and against the attacks unleashed on the democratic, secular and federal character of the Indian Republic. It called for a united people’s movement to protect peoples’ livelihoods from corporate loot, and to protect the secular democratic constitution of India.
The SKM’s Delhi mahapanchayat gave a clarion call to observe Martyrs’ Day on March 23 as a day to “save democracy from the threat of money and muscle power” in all villages to expose the corporate-criminal-corrupt nexus under BJP rule.
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