In the News
June 2, 2021
Protesting Indian Farmers Harvest a Bumper
Crop While Continuing the Fight
– J. Singh –
Indian farmers hold Black Day protests against the Modi government, May 26, 2021.
Without weakening their protesting of the encampments which surround Delhi, the farmers of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other areas have been harvesting a bumper crop. Meanwhile, together with workers across India, they observed a Black Day on May 26 to mark six months of their encampments surrounding Delhi and the seventh anniversary of the reactionary and corrupt Modi government. All across India people organized demonstrations, rallies and other expressions of condemnation of the government’s policies which attack farmers, workers, students, minorities and all the peoples of India. The opposition political parties also joined the call of farmers and workers.
The farmers are also planning to commemorate the first anniversary of the anti-farmer laws on June 5, when the three laws were promulgated as ordinances by the government. They will burn copies of these laws in front of government offices across India. June 6 is also the fourth anniversary of the killing of a farmer in Mansaur, Madhya Pradesh. In Haryana the boycott of BJP leaders continues. Even wedding invitations write that if you are an office bearer of the BJP do not bother to attend, you will not be permitted to enter. The farmers are also planning to intensify struggle in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Overseas, Indian residents abroad and their friends continue to organize demonstrations, webinars, teach-ins, press conferences and artistic performances to express their unity with the farmers and other toilers, and highlight the violation of the rights of the people. In one of the webinars, a team of filmmakers talked about the film they are making about what happened to U.S. farmers as a result of similar laws. U.S. farmers on the panel pointed out how they were ruined and how their lands and farms were gobbled up by big corporations such as Cargill, ADM, Monsanto and others. One of the U.S. farmers said: “Indians freed themselves from the British, but with these laws they will become a colony of America.” He called upon all the people of India to support the farmers and oppose these laws with all their might. Another farmer said: “Remember it is agriculture and not agribusiness. People’s being is connected with it.”
According to figures released by various organizations, during the COVID-19 pandemic, 90 million day workers have lost 80 per cent of their income in major metropolitan cities. At the same time, prices of basic necessities have risen by 30 to 100 per cent. One study points out that 97 per cent of the population has become poorer. The Prime Minister is living in a parallel universe. He claims there has been “all round development” in the country. Another report points out:
“Figures for the economic impact of India’s COVID-19 second wave and the lockdowns across the country to control its spread are now emerging. Investment bank Barclays has said that India is losing about $8 billion — about Rs 60,000 crore — every week in May. The total loss will be $117 billion (Rs 8.5 trillion), or 3.75 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), per Barclays. Unemployment levels have moved into double digits, at 14.73 per cent for the week ending May 23, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, with over 17 per cent unemployment in urban India and nearly 14 per cent in rural India.”
The Indian ruling elite in order to maximize their profits is collaborating with Anglo-American imperialism in encircling China and will bring disasters to the peoples of India. As U.S. President Ronald Reagan proclaimed in 1983, the U.S. will fight China to the last Indian man.
