Updated: September 26, 2020 8:18:31 am
In the village of Bhuttiwala in Mukatsar. (Photo Express)
At the forefront of several farmer protests in Punjab on Friday were some unusual numbers: two 20-year-old college students, a 33-year-old activist and a teenage girl who dropped out of school, all women.
They launched slogans of revolution and addressed large meetings of farmers, mostly men, at which they made passionate criticisms of the Center’s agricultural policies.
Punjab and Haryana were the epicenter of nationwide protests by more than 350 farmers’ organizations under the umbrella of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee against the three agricultural bills that were passed by Parliament this week.
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Thousands of protesters blocked roads and highways in various states and had the support of opposition parties such as Congress, Trinamool Congress and RJD, as well as 10 central unions. Farmers fear that the new legislation will pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) regime and leave them at the mercy of large corporations.
Farmers shout anti-government slogans as they march during a protest in Amritsar, Friday, Sept. 25, 2020. (AP Photo)
In Maharashtra, NCP Chief Deputy Minister Ajit Pawar and Congressional Speaker and Finance Minister Balasaheb Thorat said the state could decide not to implement the bills. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has said the same, and it is understood that the Punjab government is considering the option of declaring the entire main Mandi Yard state circumvent the laws. Kerala will defy the laws in the Supreme Court.
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“It is dharti di hiq te inqlaab uthda hai, itihas badal jaanda hai jadon Punjab uthda hai … (It is in this land where the revolution is born, history changes when the Punjab awakens)”, Sumandeep Kaur, 20, senior student of mass communication studies told The Indian Express by phone from the Barnala district.
Sumandeep, daughter of a marginal farmer from Sauhar village in Barnala, spoke at protest meetings in Mehal Kalan, Chhaba, Raikot and several other villages in the district on Friday, and addressed the dharnas organized by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Dakaunda ).
She has been going to protests and brunettes with her father Kewal Singh since she was 5 years old, Sumandeep said. “I study at Punjabi University, Patiala, but have been home since the new coronavirus epidemic started. I understand agricultural bills. When we have no problem with the arhatiyas, what is the government’s problem? And they are not even breaking this system, they are just replacing the arhatiyas with contract farming enterprises. The intermediary will always be there, ”he said.
Protesters with the images of Bhagat Singh at Pakka Morcha of farmers in Badal village in Mukatsar. (Express photo by Gurmeet Singh)
Neelkamal, also in his 20s and a senior at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, organized protests in six villages in Barnala. Her father is an activist, but Neelkamal was alone on Friday, while visiting other villages.
“We belong to Thikriwal, the people of the freedom fighter Sewa Singh Thikriwal. The revolution runs in our blood, ”he told The Indian Express by phone from Handaiya village in Barnala.
“We do not have agricultural land, but I am aware that the livelihood of farmers is linked to that of small traders. There have been repeated riots in the country… sparked by demonetization, the implementation of the GST, talk of a National Citizen Registry (NRC), and now, in the midst of the pandemic, these agricultural bills. I feel the need to share my views with farmers who have never been to college. The youth must take the initiative, ”Neelkamal said.
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His father, Yadwinder Singh Thikriwal, said: “I work as a security guard at the civil hospital, Barnala, on a contract. I have been linked to Inqalabi Manch, where I do plays. I also sing in these works. My daughter grew up in that environment. “
Amandeep Kaur Deol, the 33-year-old general secretary of Istri Jagriti Manch, brought her three-year-old daughter to the dharnas on Friday. Amandeep, who dropped out of a doctoral program to focus on her work on women’s issues, addressed hundreds of farmers in Nabha de Patiala and spoke about the impact the bills would have on women.
“My father is a farmer and I am very familiar with the problems of farmers. My husband and I are social activists. The agrarian bills are aimed at attracting private companies to the market, as a result of which the farmer’s income will gradually disappear. This will affect the women in the household and families will not have money to educate girls. Farmers have started sending their daughters to school and university; those gains will be lost if these kaale kanoon are implemented.
Harmanjot Kaur, 18, a class 11 dropout from Akalia village in Mansa district, stood for hours at the morcha, holding a BKU (Dakaunda) flag.
“I want to speak from the podium soon,” he said. “Therefore, I stand in the front rows, listening to the speakers. My parents are sick, so I work on the farm. Agriculture is in my blood ”.
Harmanjot’s mother, Kuldeep Kaur, said the family has three kanales of land on which they grow wheat and rice. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to listen to us, we don’t like these bills. Farmers are on the roads. “Harmanjot added:” I understand democracy, and our prime minister must understand it too. “
(With ENS Mumbai, Pune)
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