Stand with
Indian Farmers!
Striving of Indian Farmers to Decide What Happens to Their Produce
- Jaspal Singh -
Mahapanchayat
(enlarged village meeting) in Barnala, Punjab,
February 21, 2021
The farmers' struggle in India is now entering
its fourth month since
hundreds of thousands converged on the borders
of Delhi in December
2020.
Mahapanchayats (enlarged
village meetings) of farmers are continuing in
different parts of
India. Mahapanchayats are convoked when
there are
serious issues that affect all the villages and
communities. Panchayats,
Khaps, Councils are very old forms which
predate the modern
colonial state and systems of party
government. A speaker at one mahapanchayat
pointed
out that theirs dates back to the times of Raja
Harshvardhan in the seventh
century AD. Others recall that theirs are even
older than that. In the
late fifties in Punjab, mahapanchayats
were held to
prohibit dowry taking by the family of the
groom. Their decisions were
enforced for
many years.
In these mahapanchayats
the farmers in their thousands are discussing
their resolve to keep
fighting for the repeal of the anti-farmer laws
and for providing
minimum support prices with a legal guarantee.
They are also discussing
many other issues such as how the
parties of the ruling elite, which claim to be political, have been dividing them on the basis
of party, religion, caste and other divisive
agendas. At one meeting, a
young woman farmer said that in the old days,
Brahmins used to say that
one has to go through their mediation to have
knowledge of God. Now,
she said, political parties claim that you have
to bring them to power
to get anything done. They have become new
Brahmins, and
most of them are headed by Brahmins, she added.
Talking
about Modi's coining of the word Andolanjeevi
(professional agitator), one of the speakers had
everyone in stitches
saying that by Modi's definition, Hanuman was
the greatest Andolanjeevi.
It refers to the story of Ram, king of Ayodhaya,
whose wife was
abducted by Ravana, King of Lanka. Hanuman lit
Ravana's tail
and set fire to Lanka.
The most important demand
that has emerged in this movement is Faslan
De Faisle Kisan
Karuga, the farmer will make decisions
about his produce. Mahapanchayat
after mahapanchayat is declaring this
demand
loudly. In Punjab, discussions on this demand
have been going on for
quite a while. In 2008 it was discussed
at the World Punjab Conference held in
Jalandhar. Around the same time
this demand was raised in Gujarat with the call
for community control
of the resources of Gujarat. The Narmada
Movement also raised it in the
form of Hamare Gaon Mein Hamara Raj --
Our Rule in
Our Village. In tribal areas it has emerged in
the form of
Pathalgarhi, also a demand that reflects
the
awareness and consciousness that is emerging
that producers should make
decisions about production and this should be
the democracy at work.
Who
decides and who sets the agenda have become central issues of the 21st
century. The ruling elite and their cartel parties claim that they are
entitled to decide what happens to all the natural and human resources
of society. The parliaments, legislatures, judiciaries and governments
are all there to implement an agenda of the ruling elite. People on
the other hand are rising up, affirming their Right to Decide, which
has been usurped by parties which have formed cartels to keep the
people out of power in the state and the institutions of government.
The declaration at mahapanchayats is that Faslan
De Faisle Kisan Karuga represents a
crucial demand of
humanity that is
marginalized from decisions that affect their
lives. Farmers want to
end this marginalization and affirm their Right
to Decide.
The
youth of India, sons and daughters of farmers
and other toilers, have
shown their mettle and have been in the front
ranks with their parents
and grandparents in this fight for what they are
calling their Right to
Be. The disinformation of the ruling elite and
their media claims that
young people have become addicts and/or
careerists. The
youth have completely smashed these lies. The
lyrics of one of the
songs that has come out of this movement
celebrates the youth:
Zindabad Ni Juaniye, Maan Tere Te Saara Hi
Punjab Karda (Long
live the youth, Punjab is proud of you!)
The cartel
parties which form the official opposition are
trying to torpedo the
farmers' movement, joining the bandwagon of the
ruling elite to divide it by holding their own
rallies. They are giving
fiery speeches inside the parliament and
outside. All of a sudden they
are remembering the farmers, against whom they
have
been acting for the last 74 years. But the
farmers are not fooled by
them. It reveals the fight amongst the different
sections of the ruling
elite, they point out as they stick to their
demands.
The farmers' movement in India is inspiring farmers
in Europe, Canada and
other places. In France and Germany, farmers are
protesting against the
chemical farming promoted by the corporations
which dominate what is
called agri-business. They are raising the
banner of sustainable
agriculture.
This article was published in
Voluem [volume] Number 12 - March 1, 2021 - No. 12
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08121.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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