THE unprecedented farmers’ struggle around Delhi, which began on November 26, 2020, completes 100 days on March 6, 2021. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) held a general body meeting of its constituents at Singhu Border on March 2. On behalf of the AIKS, it was attended by general secretary Hannan Mollah, finance secretary P Krishna Prasad, Punjab state general secretary Major Singh Punnewal and Haryana state vice president Inderjit Singh. The following decisions were taken as the programme for action in the coming days.

STRUGGLE PROGRAMME

On March 6, it will be 100 days from the start of the protests at Delhi's doorsteps. On that day, there will be a five-hour blockade of the KMP expressway connecting various protest sites outside Delhi. This will be between 11 am to 4 pm. Toll plazas here will also be freed up from collecting toll fees. In the rest of India, the day will be marked by flying black flags on houses and offices to signify support to the movement, and to protest against the government. The SKM has also invited protestors to wear black bands on that day.

On March 8, SKM will mark the day as Mahila Kisan Diwas. All SKM protest sites across the country will witness greater participation of women on that day, and it will be women who will manage the stages and will be speakers. SKM has invited women's organisations and others marking International Women's Day on that day to do so in support of the farmers' movement and for highlighting the contributions of women farmers to the country.

On March 15, along with central trade unions who are marking the day as 'anti-privatisation' day, SKM will support the call of the trade unions by marking the day as 'anti-corporatisation' day, and extend solidarity to the protests of trade unions on that day all over India.

In election-bound states, SKM will put out a call to the public to punish the anti-farmer, anti-poor policies of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Representatives of SKM will also visit the states for this purpose and take part in various programmes.

SKM will launch a "MSP Dilao Abhiyan" all over India. As part of the campaign, the reality of prices given to farmers in different markets will be showcased, to point out to the Modi government the shallowness of its MSP promises. The campaign will be initiated in the south Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to begin with. Farmers all over the country have been invited to join this campaign.

Mahapanchayats of tens of thousands of farmers each are proceeding relentlessly in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. They are continuing to be addressed by SKM leaders, who include several leaders of the AIKS. Through them, a huge churning is on in large parts of the Hindi heartland against the Modi-Shah-led BJP central government. Apart from the opposition to the farm laws and the demand for a fair MSP law, burning issues like the back-breaking rise in diesel, petrol and cooking gas prices and the privatisation drive to sell off the country to domestic and foreign corporates for a song, are also being highlighted.
   
SHOCKING CASES

Just after the release of 22 year young climate activist Disha Ravi on bail, which we had taken note of in these columns last week, 24 year young labour rights dalit girl activist Nodeep Kaur was also released on bail after spending over a month and a half behind bars and facing torture by the police. Immediately after her bail, this brave activist of the Mazdoor Adhikar Sanghatan promptly went back to the Singhu border to support the farmers’ struggle and take up the cause of the workers for whom she had been fighting before she was arrested on January 12. She declared that she would go to all the borders of the farmers’ struggle, share her harrowing experiences in jail, and appeal to all to intensify the struggle manifold. This is courage indeed.

One of her comrades working in the same organisation, a 24 year young dalit boy Shiv Kumar, was also arrested on January 16 and thrown behind bars, where he still languishes today. He is visually impaired. A detailed report in the Indian Express published on February 25 gives the gory details of how he was constantly tortured by the police. The same report has even more shocking details, which portrays the reality of the Modi-Shah-led BJP-RSS regime and the treatment that it metes out to those who fight for workers and farmers. And unfortunately, these are most of our courts – who let innumerable Nodeep Kaurs and the Shiv Kumars remain in custody and torture for months. While on the other hand, the BJP-RSS regime has no compunctions in naming the biggest cricket stadium in the world at Ahmedabad after Narendra Modi in his lifetime – just as a large football stadium in Germany was named after Adolf Hitler in his lifetime!