Fight for Rights and Renewal in India

Mass Farmers' March on Delhi Enters Week Three


December 10, 2020. Rally held by farmers camped at Tikrit border crossing outside Delhi on the occasion of Human Rights Day.

Reports from New Delhi inform that millions of farmers are gathered on the border between Haryana and Delhi. The city is under siege. There is a Mela [Fair] at least 60 to 70 kilometres long on the GT road [National Highway]. "Very festive atmosphere, Langar, cultural performances, people looking after each other, health workers are here, surrounding villages are providing vegetables, milk, ghee and daily necessities," one person wrote. Reports indicate that the farmers are equipped to stay there for months if need be. A contingent of Nihang Sikhs -- Sikh warriors on horseback -- has also joined the farmers. "They have tied their horses to the barricades and are practising their martial arts," the observer writes.


December 10, 2020.  A contingent of  Nihang Sikhs -- Sikh warriors on horseback -- has joined the farmers.

India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) issued a press release on December 9 which reads:

"The National Working Group of AIKSCC took the following decisions:

- AIKSCC joins farmers' organizations in denouncing and rejecting the insincere and arrogant so-called 'new' proposal of Central Govt.

- AIKSCC to launch nationwide campaign Sarkaar ki Asli Majboori -- Adani, Ambani, Jamakhori to expose Modi Govt.

- AIKSCC calls upon farmers' organizations to organize continuous protests."




December 7-10. Border crossings into Delhi at Tikrit, Singhu, and elsewhere are blockaded by the farmers' protests. 

Several rounds of talks with the government did not fulfill the demands of the farmers. Earlier the government's mantra was that the "farmers do not understand." Now it is saying that it will look into their demands and make some changes. Farmers want the outright repeal of the offending laws. Referring to the contract farming these laws introduce, the farmers are saying that the "East India Company is back." One young farmer pointed out that in the last 10 years the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy (rice) has gone up by 18 per cent but the cost of inputs has gone up by 53 per cent. Another young farmer said, "Leader and Dealer, have the same letters. These leaders of political parties have become dealers for Ambani and Adani."

Affiliates of the ruling party and some of its leaders have been trying to incite people against the farmers by saying the farmers are "Khalistanis," which they equate with terrorism. But the farmers from Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and other places call on people not to get diverted. They respond by saying: "If fighting for rights makes one Khalistani, then all of us are Khalistanis."

On December 5, people all across India burnt effigies of the oligarchs Adani, Ambani and others whose big corporate houses are stealing the land of the farmers. This was followed on December 8 with an all-India shut down and strike. Hundreds of millions of people shut India down to demand that the government fulfill the demands of the farmers.

Massive rallies in front of India's missions abroad are taking place in support of farmers. Millions of people have signed petitions. Non-resident Indians (NRIs), especially Punjabis abroad, are playing an important role. For example, young second and third generation Punjabis abroad are explaining to their relatives the experience of farmers in the U.S. and Canada where big corporate agribusinesses stole the lands of Indigenous peoples and farmers. Young lawyers from the U.S., Canada and Britain have looked at the laws and are giving the farmers in Punjab legal advice. They have also raised a lot of money to help the farmers who are in serious difficulty. On December 10, International Human Rights Day, they held car rallies in front of Indian missions, to protest against human rights violations.

People in India are engaged in action to make their own history. The mass protests and courage of the people once again reveal that the arrangements that the ruling elite made with the British in 1947 are anti-people. The conditions put on the agenda for solution the urgent necessity for the people's empowerment. They also reveal that the "largest democracy in the world" is nothing but a ruthless dictatorship of a tiny ruling elite. People must exercise their sovereignty themselves without the mediation of political parties or party government. The state created in 1947 put some agents of the British Raj in charge of domestic and international relations which favoured the narrow interests of the Raj. Today, under neo-liberal globalization, this has become intolerable. The burden on the people is unsustainable. The peoples' fight for their rights and the rights of all will give rise to new arrangements which satisfy the claims of the people on society and are on par with the requirements of the times.  

Instigating anarchy and violence is the template that the British developed after the First War of Independence in 1857 against British rule. It was specifically used to divide the Indian people in 1947 and the institutions imitate those of the British in order to replicate their rule using Indians instead of British personalities. This is the "democracy" that establishment forces, including those calling themselves liberals and secular forces, want people to save "at all costs" as if they are the antidote, not the purveyor of anarchy and violence. This is the blindfold of anti-consciousness that those who have usurped power by force manipulate every minute of every day so that nobody looks at the actual conditions and the ensemble of social relations to see what they reveal. People must lift this veil of disinformation, deception and fraud.



November 30, 2020. Demonstration organized by youth in support of the farmers' protests.

Across India Blockades and other Actions Stand with Farmers
March on Delhi

Chandigarh, December 1, 2020


West Bengal, Bhand, December 8, 2020





Tamil Nadu, Bhand, December 8, 2020




(Photos: AIKSCC, Indian Youth Congress, Xinhua, A. Bangar, A. Dhillon, H. Manne, D. Journalist, Chandigarh 17, H. Saini)


This article was published in

Volume 50 Number 48 - December 12, 2020

Article Link:
Fight for Rights and Renewal in India: Mass Farmers' March on Delhi Enters Week Three - Meera Kaur


    

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