Farmers and their supporters all over India and the world are mourning the three women farmers who were crushed to death by a truck that rammed into a group of women farmers near the protest site at the Tikri border in Haryana. The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) bows its head in respect for their courage, steadfastness and pioneering fight in defence of their just cause. It expresses deepest condolences to their families, villages and the entire movement on their loss.

The women farmers have put themselves in the front lines of this struggle for the repeal of the three anti-farm laws. The fight shows above all else that political renewal is required to bring the kind of governments into being which put the interests of the people at the centre of decision-making. The current Westminster system of rule that exists in India is the rule of police forces at the centre of what is called civil society. The opposition of the central government to the just demands of the farmers is a reminder of what it means when criminals seize power, use corruption to steal from the people, and foster such despicable crimes as the crushing of the three women farmers.

The farmers in India are in their 12th month at the encampments. These months of unprecedented forms of resistance have seen amongst other things a tremendous growth in their understanding of how matters pose themselves if they are to get recognition of their rights. The attacks by the ruling elite and their state have been heinous while the cause of the farmers of Punjab has spread to the rest of India. The movement started by the farmers has become a people’s movement across India for the rights of all and it enjoys the support of non-resident Indians (NRIs) and peoples all over the world. The encampments around Delhi have become teach-ins and universities for the farmers who are able to speak out about matters of concern, share experience and learn from one another.

Farmers know and have been discussing that the repeal of the three anti-farmer laws is just the first step. The problem of anti-farmer and anti-people rule is much bigger. It is a problem of providing a resolution to the agrarian crisis and the crisis of anti-people governance in favour of the renovation of all the institutions and renewal which favours the people.

Farmers’ gathering at the protest encampments surrounding Dehli, marks the start of their 12th month of protest, October 23, 2021.

The farmers are driving home the gravity of the situation. At one of the morchas (protest gatherings), one of the farmers said, “Our costs keep going up, they have risen by more than 200 per cent but we do not get the prices for our products that we need, so we become impoverished. Governments don’t listen to us, no matter which party is in power. Large numbers of people have very small holdings and there are also a large number of landless labourers. Then there is the problem of outdated and irrational customs which are used to hold us back. We have to find solutions to these problems. We have to do it ourselves in unity with all the toilers of India as well as the world. The ruling elite is trying to break our unity by using all kinds of pretexts but we have to stay united.”

Farmers have established a Fact Finding Committee to inquire into a murder that took place at one of the camps. The committee will investigate the forces behind such provocations against the farmers movement. They pointed out that the ruling elite is using its old weapon of inciting beastly hatred on the basis of religion to drown their struggle in blood and called upon farmers and people to be vigilant.

A video has gone viral of a Congress Member of the Legislative Assembly in Punjab, in which he and his cronies start beating a young man who asked the MLA what work he had done in the last five years. The MLA became enraged that anyone should dare to question him. Another leader of one of the parties, when questioned what he had done in the last five years, responded, “I will teach those who are asking questions a lesson.” Farmers are calling on people to ask all the elected leaders questions when they come to their villages.

Farmers in Maharashtra organized a complete shutdown on October 11 to protest the killing of four farmers in the municipality of Tikunia in the city of Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh state (UP) by goons of the BJP ruling party led by the son of a central minister in the Modi government. A memorial service and prayers were also held for these farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3. Farmers and other people from all across India travelled to Tikunia, Lakhimpur Kheri to join in the Antim Ardas (memorial ceremony), along with NRIs from abroad and to express their abhorrence for both the central anti-people government, and the one in UP.

Members of the National Students Union of India holds a vigil on October 4, 2021, for the farmers killed in Lakhimpur Kheri. A similar action is held on October 8, 2021 in Vancouver.

Following the memorial, farmers demanded that the minister, against whom a criminal case has been filed, be arrested and dismissed from the cabinet. Farmers have been taking the ashes of the martyrs of the farmers’ struggle to all the 600,000 villages of India and explaining to the people what is at stake. The ashes will be buried at the site of the memorial to Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev at Hussainiwala.

Effigies of Prime Minister Modi and the Chief Minister of UP, Adityanath Yogi, were burnt as a symbol of protest during the Dashera festival by farmers all across the country. Farmers also called for railways across India to be blocked on October 18.

The Modi government has issued an order which brings a 50-kilometre wide area along the borders of Punjab, Bengal and Assam under its direct control through the centrally commanded Border Security Forces. All law and order will be under the paramilitary forces, which can detain anyone without due process. Farmers have denounced this as a big attack on Punjab, Bengal and Assam and preparation to crush Punjab.

The central government’s move to establish the border zone under its direct control is also another manoeuvre by the ruling elite to dismantle the power-sharing arrangements established at the time the British inspired constitution was adopted. This is done for purposes of facilitating land theft on behalf of narrow private interests. The Punjab Assembly passed a resolution to condemn this seizure of border lands.

Indian authorities have also deported Darshan Singh Dhaliwal, an NRI from the U.S. for organizing a langar (community kitchen) for the protesting farmers at the Sidhu encampment on the Delhi border. “I was not allowed to land in India as I have been supporting the farmers’ agitation. I am running a langar at Singhu since January and I visit them every three months. On Saturday [October 23], when I landed at [Gandhi International] airport, I was denied entry despite having valid documents. They did not give any reason,” he said. “They kept me waiting for five hours and put me in a 1.30 am flight back to Chicago,” he added. Farmers at their encampments have condemned this move of the Indian government.

Other Activities in October

On October 7, farmers celebrated the 114th birth anniversary of Durgavati Devi, known as Durga Bhabhi, a great revolutionary and comrade of Rajguru, Sukhdev and Bhagat Singh. She was an active member of Naujawan Sabha and carried out many revolutionary actions with her comrades, including posing as Bhagat Singh’s wife to facilitate his escape from Lahore and leading the funeral procession march from Lahore to Kolkata of Jatin Nath Das. She was imprisoned for three years.

At the morchas, farmers discussed substantive matters that concern people and the society. They said that the repeal of the anti-farmer laws is not an end in itself. This is the minimum they have to achieve to move forward. The basic question they said is how to end the agrarian crisis and the concentration of resources in fewer and fewer hands. They are discussing measures required to fulfill the needs of all members of society and they are appreciating the significance of forms which affirm the Right to Be of all. An older farmer said that one year of discussions at the morchas has taught us more than schools and universities did in 70 years.

A farmer pointed out that in 2008, Adani built a 200,000-tonne storehouse in Moga, Punjab to hoard farm produce. “These laws were made last year, but big corporations had already made preparations. I have seen this huge storage unit. It is not far from my village. Government gave Adani land for pennies to build this giant storage facility. The ruling elite has been planning for a long time no matter which party is in power,” he said.

A young farmer said, “The state assembly and central parliament do not represent the interests of the working people. During elections they make promises and when we ask them to fulfill those promises, they attack us and open fire on us. When we call for accountability, they call us terrorists, extremists and anti-national. We who feed the whole society are looked upon with contempt by the leaders of political parties. After elections they disappear, and now they are coming to our villages. When we question them, they threaten us. This has been our experience. No matter which party is in power.” He added that “none of these parties are interested in our problems; they are only interested in coming to power and to serve the rich.”

Another farmer at Tikri Morcha pointed out that “there are those who are trying to fool us by saying that it is all due to BJP and that if in the next elections others such as Congress, Akalisor “Comrades” are elected, farmers’ conditions will get better. They are telling us to forget our own experience that no matter which party has been in power or opposition in the last 75 years, they have looted us.”

“What is the way forward?” the farmers are asking. “We need to change the tantra (system) of loot and plunder, the system of party rule. We need to create a new system in which we become rulers ourselves, makers of laws, and enforcers as well. This is how the farmers are speaking. One said: “Just as you cannot put stones in a bottle, similarly in this system of party-rule and parliament, farmers and peoples’ interests cannot be served. Even if we elect a majority of members, this Tantra will not serve us.” He said, “Reforms and fundamental transformations are needed so that we the producers of all wealth can actually become decision-makers and rulers as envisioned by Bhagat Singh.”

When the October 13, Shahidi Samagam (homage to martyrs) was held in memory of the farmers killed in Lakhimpur Kheri, the UP government threatened the farmers with eviction, claiming that their land deeds are invalid. Many of the farmer families who live there arrived with Rani Jinda in the 1840s after Punjab fell to the British. They played an important role against the British in 1857 and in the independence movement. In the 1950s, the central government brought farmers from Punjab to clear jungles and settle this region. Now the UP government says their deeds to those lands are not in order and is threatening to evict them.

While the farmers are looking into their own conditions and drawing conclusions, the ruling elite is trying all methods of subterfuge, deception, and fraud to derail the farmers’ movement. They are bringing new faces forward to fool farmers. They are also planning to drown the struggles of farmers in a bloodbath. Lakhimpur Kheri and now the killing of the three women farmers are the latest examples of what the rulers are planning to do. It will not be the last. For their part, the farmers are ready for the decisive battles taking place and those which lie ahead. That is why they sing Ya Jit Ke Jawange Ya Laashan Jaangiyan (Either we will win or our dead bodies will return).

Whether the farmers win or lose this battle, this courageous struggle will change India forever.

All over the world a common problem is being articulated: How do citizens participate in making decisions that affect their lives? Who decides? Who sets the agenda? Finding the answers to these questions lead more and more people to become aware that their powerlessness is due to the system of party rule and so-called representative government which represents the rich, not the people.

The Conditions are calling for renewal and renovation, whereas the Authority wants to perpetuate the anachronistic system based on exploitation of persons by persons and relations based on oppression. Farmers and other toilers are calling for renovation and renewal; the representatives of the ruling elite cannot speak the truth about anything. Renovation and renewal have become the necessity of our times.