Jagtar Singh

  Farmers struggle for survival and Shiromani Akali Dal heads towards confrontation Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   With three back-to-back press conferences within 48 hours against each other, the farmers struggle for survival commanded by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha and the Shiromani Akali Dal intensifying its battle for political power are now heading towards confrontation. The SKM has nothing to lose in this confrontation. The provocation is the harassment and humiliation by some angry agitators of several Akali volunteers and activist going to Delhi to participate in the protest organised by the Shiromani Akali Dal and returning from there. Of course, this should not have happened as it is democratic right of every party and individual to hold own political views and participate in such mobilisations. Such humiliation is highly condemnable. The Akali Dal released several videos of these cases of harassment yesterday. This happened ay Singhu and Tikri borders where ...

  Historic shift as power structure in Punjab transits from Patiala Royals to House of Common Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   The power super structure in Punjab during the last almost quarter of a century has been alternating between the House of Badals and the Patiala Royals. The state whose political dynamics ever since the Green Revolution has been dominated by the landed communities, witnesses qualitative transition from these two power centres to the House of Common with the replacement of Capt Amarinder Singh from the Patiala Royals to Charanjit Singh Channi, the commoner who has risen from the lowest depths of socio-political structure. And he happens to be among the most educated chief ministers with two post-graduate degrees along with graduation in law. At an emotional take over, while detailing the poverty that his family confronted, he assured that it was now the government of the amm aadmi, the commoner. He promised to open the doors of the chief minis...

Issue is  havoc that farm acts would trigger in Punjab, not inconvenience due to struggle Black Day is June 5, not September 17 Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh threw a stone in the already troubled waters by saying that the farmers should wind up their dharnas in Punjab that were causing loss to the state and impeding development, besides causing inconvenience to the people at large. Capt Amarinder Singh is the former Maharaja of Patiala. A man known to study deeply the issues that concern him, he should also go into chain reaction that the carnage caused by these farm laws would spark in Punjab. This chain reaction would hit hard every section of the economy. Punjab is the state that is going to be the worst hit by these laws followed by Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh. Himachal Pradesh apple growers have already started feeling the pinch of corporate marketing take over. Capt Amarinder Singh today tried to mollify the agi...

  Battle for political power in Punjab and farmers fight for survival must adjust to co-exist Ground Zero Jagtar Singh The battle for political power by the parties in Punjab must not only avoid coming into confrontation with the farmers struggle for survival but should also try to supplement it. The farmers leaders in turn should be extremely cautious about the strategy and tactics of the struggle and avoid any signal of even remotely helping any political party in the state. The reason is simple. Punjab is different from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The BJP is in power at the centre and these two states and hence defeating this party must be part of the strategy and tactics of this struggle to hit Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose government has thrust these anti-people farm legislations on the farmers that promote pro-corporate model. The BJP is a minor player in Punjab as the main stakeholders are the ruling Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party. Th...

  Kisan struggle evolving as assertion of diverse socio-cultural reality of India, questions divisive narrative   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   The struggle by the farmers for their very survival threatened by three contentious farm laws imposed by the pro-corporate Narendra Modi government without broader consultations is now evolving as a challenge to the divisive politics and agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The assertion of diverse socio-religious-cultural reality at the Sunday Mahapanchayat at Muzaffarnagar, the city in Western Uttar Pradesh that had triggered divisive politics in 2013 by engineering communal politics, is an indication of the non-sectarian and non-communal politics for which this struggle by the very people rooted to the soil could get transformed into platform for this mobilization. This is the most positive aspect of this struggle that has also the potential to upset the electoral dynamics of the ruling BJP that is at the heart of t...

  Untimely election campaigns to grab power in Punjab can hit farm struggle for survival Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   The issue here is not whether the angry farmers who are confronting the election campaigns are agents or not of the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party as alleged by Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal. The concern here is about the impact of this confrontation that has sharpened with the launching of 100-day campaign by Mr. Badal to mobilise people for February 2022 elections. This confrontation took aggressive form at Moga today where the Akali supporters clashed with the agitating farmers and police resorted to mild lathi charge against protesters near the venue of the Akali conference. One of the most positive dimensions of the farm struggle is the end to grouping and factionalism in the countryside. This confrontation can adversely impact this newly developed social harmony thereby weakening the farm stir. The farm struggle must remain unite...