Farmers Struggle: Countdown begins to transform India’s Colonial Democracy to People’s Democracy on January 26

 

 

Farmers Struggle: Countdown begins  to transform India’s Colonial Democracy to People’s Democracy on January 26

 

Jagtar Singh

Ground Zero

 

Chandigarh: The world would witness the first ever such mobilisation of farmers on tractors at the doorsteps of Delhi. This mobilisation would challenge all existing norms of political dynamics. Every tractor, especially in Punjab and Haryana, is heading to Delhi, such is the magnitude of this mobilisation. It is now immaterial whether the tractor parade is staged on the out ring road or some other areas. It is the unprecedented mobilisation of the farmers that in itself is important. It is a mobilisation that is commanded by the people themselves.

The issue is both simple and complex. This mobilisation would decide as to which model of growth is the country to follow as the free market model has been proved to be anti-people. This model has produced crony capital and corrupted the ruling class to the core. It has become immaterial as to which party is in power in the state or at the national level.

The farmers are going to assert their dignity and pride as the people who feed the nation but are victims of discriminatory policies of the government. Every political party has ditched the people after coming into power.

This Republic Day on January 26 would be unlike any earlier such day  in the history of independent India yet at another level. This Republic Day would determine whether India continues to be Colonial Democracy or gets transformed into People’s Democracy in accordance with “We the people” as per the Constitution in which the will of the people prevail, not that of the ‘rulers’ enjoying just numerical mandate.

This historic struggle is being commanded by the farmers from Punjab who happen to be the Sikhs. But this should not be surprising.

The Sikhs led the freedom struggle at critical moments and were the first to challenge the British in 1849 itself. The facts speak for themselves.

One can refer to the period from 1910 to 1920 during which V D Savarkar, the author of Hindutva and the ideological fountain head of the Bharatiya Janata Party that is ruling at the centre, wrote his apology letters to the British government from the notorious Cellular Jail on Andaman island, then known as the Kalapani.

One has to go into the record of the political inmates to understand the role of the Sikhs during that period. One indicator of the contribution of Punjabis in the earlier period is evident from their number in the Cellular Jail from 1910-1920 as given in the  data  compiled by the West Bengal based Andaman  Ex-Political Prisoners Fraternity Circle. “Out of 133 political prisoners in Cellular Jail during this period, 81 were from Punjab, 38 from Bengal, 11 from UP and three from Maharashtra. Out of 366 political prisoners during the period 1932-38, 332 were Bengalis and three from Punjab. (R.C. Majumdar, Penal Settlement in Andaman, p 297). And majority of these freedom fighters were the Sikhs and the list is available to this effect.

Majority of those who were hanged during freedom struggle were the Sikhs.

The most aggressive resistance to the Rowlatt Act in which the present UAPA and similar laws since 1950 are rooted, including the sedition, was witnessed in Punjab and this staunch opposition was epitomized by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The Indian National Army when Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose took over its command comprised mainly the Sikh soldiers.

It is not surprising that India is witnessing a historic moment again with the pioneering role being played by the Sikh farmers who would decide whether the Democracy in India belongs to the people or the rulers; what model of development is to be adopted.

Massive protests were staged by the farmers in Maharashtra and Odisha on Sunday too. Farmers in almost every state are now resisting the new farm laws.

The three farm laws for the junking of which this struggle is going on are not for the welfare of the farmers but the move to corporatize the farm sector. This model is anti-people as both production and market for farm produce would be monopolised by the corporates. It is not just farmers’ struggle. The farmers are struggling to save the people from corporate exploitation.

It is in this context that the January 26 is crucial when the farmers organisations have given the call to take out tractor parade in Delhi to make the Republic Day as the Farmers Republic Day. At another level, the farmers would reclaim the Republic. It is now immaterial whether the parade is taken out on the outer ring road or not as it is the massive mobilisation that is now all the more important.

The Modi government at its last meeting with the farmer organisations on January 22 reiterated that the demand for the scrapping of these three laws is unacceptable. These farmers organisations have rejected the offer to keep these laws on hold for 18 months. On the surface, the situation is heading towards confrontation.

The reason for taking the struggle to the logical conclusion is simple.

India has not witnessed such mobilisation since 1947 and it is the most peaceful one despite the  Sangh Parivar people have repeatedly launched malicious campaigns against this struggle by alleging that it is being controlled by the Khalistanis.

The three laws are now feared to be threat to the very existence of the farmers and the people associated with this sector directly and indirectly. It may be mentioned that the land dispute is one of the major causes of murders in this state.

Under attack is the dignity of the very people who made India food sovereign. Earlier, these very people had fought to make India sovereign.

But the BJP is not concerned with the pre-1947 history as the Sangh Parivar people did not participate in the freedom struggle.

That freedom struggle has now entered another phase and it is to transform India’s Colonial Democracy into People’s Democracy.

This mobilisation is going to be historic.

And January 26, 2021 is going to be a historic day.