Mohali: Peasant leaders in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, say they have had to disguise themselves to evade heavy police surveillance and join protests against agricultural laws.
Palbhai Ambaliya, Yakub Guraji and Jayesh Patel, together with other leaders and representatives of Gujarat farmers unions, had formed an umbrella organization called Gujarat Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, on December 6, to mobilize support for the ‘Delhi Chalo’ protest by Farmers from North India.
However, almost all of the leaders present at the December 6 meeting were placed under house arrest by the Gujarat administration to thwart any protest plans, several of the farmers said.
While the popular narrative surrounding the farmers’ uproar has been that only farmers in Punjab and Haryana are agitating against the laws, but the truth is that farmers in Gujarat do not unite because they are not allowed to, Ambaliya said. The wire.
“The Gujarat government has deployed the state police to monitor cell phones, our WhatsApp chats, the movement of our vehicles, and people leaving and entering our homes to prevent us from mobilizing,” the popular leader said by phone. peasant and activist. .
Farmers who have left Gujarat on the Singhu border. Photo: By agreement
Another peasant leader, Yakub Guraji, accused the Gujarat police of harassing his family while trying to head to New Delhi to join the protest.
“Eight to ten policemen blocked my way to Delhi on December 11th. They arrested me and kept me in a cell for one night even though they could not cite any charges, ”he said.
As the farmers demonstrated for their release, the police harangued Guraji’s family and asked their son about his work. He was released only the next morning.
“I told the police that more than 10,000 people will march to Delhi from Gujarat in groups. How many people can they arrest and detain? “
Today, December 15, the Prime Minister, speaking at the inauguration of an energy mega-project in Gujarat’s Kutch, said that the Government of India is “committed to the well-being of farmers and will continue to ensure farmers and address their concerns. ” Modi too blamed the “opposition” for misleading farmers at a time when the nation is taking a “historic step.”
Excerpts from the conversation with Ambaliya provide a detailed picture of the degree of police surveillance that Gujarat farmers are subjected to. The questions and answers have been edited slightly for clarity.
First, how did you escape the police?
On December 6, the Gujarat government somehow found out about our meeting which took place in Ahmedabad under the Gujarat Kisan Sangharsh Samiti flag. At the meeting, we had announced that a Kisaan sansad The program will take place on December 11.
Before hosting the program, we asked the government for permission, but it was rejected. Our plan was to keep the Kisan Sansad and leave for New Delhi in a rally of 2,000 peasants and workers. the Sansad he was scheduled to have speeches only on the subject of farmers. But the government did not grant us permission.
Furthermore, from December 10 onwards, the police began to arrest all the peasant leaders one by one.
As soon as I found out about this, I left my home in Dwaraka and headed for Junagarh to avoid my impending arrest. I turned off my phone. Once I got to Junagarh, I briefly switched on my phone. The police managed to trace my phone somehow. I got a couple of calls from the police saying I shouldn’t leave the scene.
But then I turned my phone off again. I knew where the police were coming from, so I took the opposite route. I went to Kutch, then from there to Gandhinagar. I navigated the state while the police chased me.
In Junagarh, I decided to put on a costume. I changed my hair. I usually wear a traditional dhoti, but I bought a pair of jeans and a shirt and put them on. I gave my car to someone else and bought another. I arrived in Udaipur on December 12th.
Similarly, Dahyabhai Gajera, another agricultural leader, was under house arrest. But while the police were at the door of his house, he managed to escape through the back door with the help of his son. His son quickly dropped him off at a nearby bus stop. From there, Dahyabhai took a bus to Udaipur in secret.
As we speak, more than 16 agricultural leaders from Gujarat are under house arrest. Not everyone has the strength to evade a police chase like this. Very few of us were able to do it. Despite all this, there are around 150 people who have been able to leave Gujarat so far. Some of us have reached the Delhi-Jaipur border and some of us are at the Singhu border.
Since when have Gujarat farmers protested against farm laws?
Gujarat farmers have been mobilizing against the ordinances from day one. When it became a bill, we condemned it. When it was approved by a gross majority, we condemned it. But none of us were allowed to express our condemnation on a larger scale.
One day before the agricultural organizations asked Bharat Bandh, the first Minister [Vijay Rupani] He approached Gujarati traders through the press to tell them that they should not support farmers. The government also issued a Section 144 order. All of this is being done to create an atmosphere of fear.
Why doesn’t the Gujarat government want him at the Delhi protest site?
Let me tell you about the biggest fear they have. Look at the way the government praises the new laws it has passed. They are trying to meet people in town to convince them of the laws. Thus, a few years ago, the government had launched a crop insurance plan, which was also praised as these laws are praised.
But in Gujarat today, the whole scheme has proven to be a great failure.
The insurance companies and the government are corrupt. This scheme was also called Prime Minister Modi’s dream project. If it was a dream project, why was it suspended in Gujarat? We will talk about all this in Delhi. morcha and that’s why they don’t want us to be there. Gujarat’s real model will be revealed to everyone.
How many farmers from Gujarat will join the uproar on Delhi’s borders?
Around 200 more people are leaving for Delhi now. They will also leave like me, in secret. Right now in Gujarat, you can’t even say you’re going to Delhi. You can only talk about the movement after you are out of Gujarat. This is the Gujarat model. All our phones, WhatsApp chats, our vehicles, everything is being watched.
Today, the Prime Minister meets with the farmers of Kutch in Gujarat. Are you meeting with them to allay their fears?
After 2002, Kutch became a free zone for business. At that time, many sardars moved to Kutch to do business. The sardars in Kutch are merchants, not farmers. The soil in Kutch is not fertile enough for agriculture.
Also, BJP’s strategy has been that they will talk to people who speak their language. The farmers you will meet with will. And it’s not that BJP doesn’t have farmers as members and supporters. There are some peasants in the BJP who also believe in the ideology of their party.
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