Farmers
struggle rooted in Punjabi psyche
creates new model of resistance
for toiling masses
Ground Zero
Jagtar Singh
For the
toiling masses across the globe resisting exploitative models of corporate
development dictated by the theory of free markets, November 26 would go down
in history as the defining moment. It was on this day in 2020 that the farmers
from Punjab took a long leap and in the process, has created history by making India’s all-powerful Iron Man Prime
Minister Narendra Modi to announce the repeal of the three controversial farm
laws that would have opened the doors of the farm sector to the corporate
sharks.
It is the
model that empowers the people to confront the brute power of the state through
perseverance and resilience.
And a salient
dimension of this model is the empowerment of women whose participation in this
long fight is historic. Women from rural areas of Punjab and Haryana have never
been seen joining the menfolk at such a massive level in any of the earlier
struggles. This dimension is also going to have its impact on the political
dynamics of the region. Punjab in particular has a history of both peaceful and
radical struggles over the decades including in the pre-partition period.
On this
defining day on November 26, 2020, the defining moment was the one when the
farmers from the younger generation decided spontaneously to challenge the
might of the Indian state at the Ghaggar river bridge joining/dividing Punjab
and Haryana at one point along the long border that was created in 1966. It was
a decisive jump that broke all barriers and barricades and the protesters then
stopped only at the gates of Delhi, the Capital.
These were
the youth who had been maligned as druggists for some time.
It may be
mentioned here that the program was to sit on dharna at the point where stopped
by the security forces to block the farmers march to Delhi where the protest
was to be staged only for two days for which permission was denied. The Punjab
farmers at Shambhu border were joined by their counterparts from Haryana and
that constituted the main push. That day calls for separate analysis. It was
perhaps for the first time that the government in Haryana dug up the hoighways
and placed big boulders to stop the farmers march.
It is the
driving force behind this struggle that would be the subject of deeper study.
At one
level, one has to go back to history in Punjab where the Sikh religion came up
as a religion of resistance. The Sikhs fought for survival for a long time
before the Sikh Empire appeared on the globe with Maharaja Ranjit Singh as the
leader, the way for which had earlier been paved by Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.
Punjab has
continued to struggle over the years and these struggles have turned out to be
cyclical, to this day. It was this psyche that has developed over time that was
one of the major driving force in mobilising the peasantry across the country
against what was perceived to be the threat to their very existance. They
fought and won. But this is the beginning. It is a long fight for dignified
living against exploitative models.
This is the unique struggle that is
characterised by multiplicity of
leadership with 32 farmers organisations having joined hands under the banner
of Samyukt Kisan Morcha with BKU (Ugrahan) joining the struggle along with some
others as independent entities but abiding by the joint decisions. This is the
struggle that has also demonstrated the success of the collective leadership
model. Normally, such struggles are fought under monolithic command.
And this is
the struggle that has frustrated the designs to sabotage it from within too.
The
collective leadership would decide upon the next path and next step of struggle
and they are the people tempered by the situation and experience who can decide
the best. Perhaps it is the collective leadership that has kept this struggle
on the right path.
This
struggle should now come up with an alternative model of pro-people
development.
It has
already demonstrated to the world how to peacefully resist oppressive and
exploitative policies through mass actions.
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