Fight
for Rights and Renewal in India Mass Farmers' March on Delhi Enters Week Three -
Meera Kaur - 
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
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
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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