Monthly Archives: August 2018

New Delhi, January 29

Farmers protesting against the Centre’s new agriculture laws will observe ‘Sadbhavna Diwas’ on Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary on January 30 and hold a day-long fast, farm union leaders said on Friday.

Addressing a press conference at Delhi’s Singhu border, the farmer leaders said the fast would be held from 9 am to 5 pm and appealed to the people of the country to join them.

The farmer leaders also slammed the ruling BJP at the Centre and accused it of trying to “destroy” the “peaceful” agitation against the farm laws.

“The conspiracy of the ruling  BJP to destroy this farmers’ movement is now exposed to all,” he said .

The farmer leaders also asserted that the number of agitators at all the prominent protest venues – Ghazipur, Singhu and Tikri – is swelling after the police allegedly tried to remove farmer leader Rakesh Tikait from Ghazipur border on Thursday night. PTI

New Delhi, January 29

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the only solution to the farmers’ issue was throwing the new agri laws in the “waste paper basket” and warned that if not resolved, the agitation will spread to other parts of the country.

In a no-holds-barred attack at the Centre, Gandhi accused the government of trying to intimidate and discredit the farmers, using the National Investigation Agency.

“It is very obvious that the farmers are very agitated because the government is destroying their livelihood. It is destroying the livelihood of our labourers and it is going to give the middle class a shock in the coming times because the prices of food are going to skyrocket,” the former Congress chief said at a press conference.

“What is being done to the farmers is absolutely criminal. You (government) are beating them, you are threatening them, you are bullying them, you are trying to discredit them,” he said.

The government needs to talk to the farmers and provide a solution to them, he said.

Gandhi asserted that the only solution is repealing these laws and “putting the laws into the waste paper basket”.

“The government must not think that the farmers are going back home. They are not going home and my concern is that this situation is going to spread. We do not need this situation to spread, we need a conversation with farmers and we need a solution,” Gandhi asserted.

Responding to a question, he said the farmers’ movement is going to spread to other states and cannot be suppressed.

The whole issue is not just about farmers and this will go from farmers to workers to urban areas and slums, he said.

Asked about the Republic Day violence, he said, “Who allowed the farmers to enter the Red Fort; is it not the home ministry’s job to stop them from doing so.” PTI

Rajesh Ramachandran

It was as if a Republic Day tableau took a violent life of its own and ended in a sad, silly skit at the Red Fort. The genuine fears of farmers about the possible privatisation of procurement of foodgrains were sustaining the two-month-long agitation that had become some sort of a model for protesters. The langar, community living and the peaceful, resolute and joyous mass mobilisation triggered by idealism had captured the imagination of the nation. Despite certain elements in the electronic media trying to unleash a smear campaign, all that the farm protests elicited was sympathy and solidarity. Yet, it took just a few agent provocateurs and saboteurs to derail the protest, turn the tide, transform the flower petals of adulation showered by supporters into stones of anger. This should never have happened.

Does a negotiation hold any meaning if one side has to win and the other lose conclusively and completely?

Pause. Every mass movement ought to stop to catch breath when its just demands are met halfway. When the government on January 20 agreed to suspend the contentious farm laws for 18 months (with one of the negotiators suggesting even two years), the farmer leaders should have agreed to reciprocate this gesture. Mature leadership demands a transactional strategy of giving in to take more or ceding to claim the moral high ground. The farmer leaders ought to have sought a longer period of suspension — say, two or three years — and returned home like victors and giant-killers. That a duly elected government agreed to suspend a law for about two years was in itself a great victory for the protesters. Suspension, after all, was just one step short of the repeal or withdrawal of the laws.

But this offer was not accorded the respectful deliberations it deserved, and instead was rejected by certain hotheads. It was widely reported that 15 of the 32 farmer unions from Punjab had voted to suspend the agitation and return home. That was the turning point. The 17 who made the 15 succumb to their wishes were taking over the agitation in a show of majoritarian strength and not in the true spirit of democratic decency towards the minority opinion. The more extreme elements who voted against accepting the government’s offer should be held responsible for all that went wrong on Republic Day. The intriguing details of hooliganism by some protesters — like former BJP supporter Deep Sidhu — turn the entire drama at the Red Fort into a multi-act conspiracy play with more prompters backstage than actors upfront.

The farmer agitation was a sort of pilgrimage for many Punjabis. Those who chose to see only multi-million tractors, blaring speakers worth lakhs, pizzas and foot massages obviously did not look at those who walked hundreds of kilometres to reach the protest site — a practice of piety for Indians across the country. It was this sombre, prayerful protest that got discredited because some of the units of the Bharatiya Kisan Union decided to take a maximalist position. Does a negotiation hold any meaning if one side has to win and the other lose conclusively and completely? That does not happen even in an outright war unless it is something akin to the destruction of the LTTE and its maximalist chief V Prabhakaran, which resulted in untold misery and racial humiliation to an entire community. The 17 hotheads need to analyse the loss of integrity of the farmer agitation.

Rethink. When the President, while addressing the joint sitting of Parliament, on Friday reiterates the government’s commitment to respect the Supreme Court’s decision to keep the farm laws on hold, soon after the government’s representatives offering to suspend the laws, the farmer unions ought to recalibrate their next move. The government’s suggestion to suspend the laws, obviously, was a face-saving exit from the cul-de-sac of its own making. Now, by not accepting this proposal, the farmers are walking into a dead end of another kind. They need to rethink their strategy all over again, while keeping the idealistic embers burning for the long haul.

For all we know, this Gandhian agitation had the potential to throw up a political alternative for the next general election. By the end of two months, there were comparisons drawn between the farmer agitation and the Anna Hazare movement against corruption that destroyed the credibility of the UPA government and laid the ground for the BJP’s return to power in the 2014 election. The anti-corruption protests had never descended into violence or chaos and were carefully crafted to create a new political platform, which became a nationwide phenomenon, putting the Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal in positions of power. Instead of taking a similar trajectory, the farmer protests have been reduced to an identity play with religious symbolism and brainless bravado as the primary scripts. Non-stop protests by hotheads who mistake negation for negotiation can only promise a comic show of athleticism atop a slippery pole, which the entire Republic Day fiasco was finally all about.

Restart. The gains thus frittered away could be best recouped by taking a break now for a new beginning. Government procurement had helped lift masses of farmers from poverty. They would all gradually get aligned with the protesters if they continue to walk the narrow path of non-sectarianism and non-violence, transforming the movement into a national campaign. But that requires the masses to be reassured that this is a farmers’ movement and not a clash of inflamed egos of a few wealthy Punjabi landowners. A decent interval can bring down the tempers and soothe bruised minds and rebuild the protest, if required. On its part, if the government has understood the mood of farmers and does not attempt to implement these laws at all, then the slogan of ‘repeal’ becomes an empty threat of disruption. Our farmers should not turn victory into defeat. How unfortunate it is not to realise that you have succeeded and to keep chasing a mirage!

New Delhi, January 29

Clashes broke out on Friday between protesting farmers and a group of men shouting anti-farmer and pro-police slogans, and authorities used tear gas and batons to break up the fight at Singhu, which is one of the protest sites near the national capital.

Delhi Police SHO (Alipur) Pradeep Paliwal was injured in the violence after a man attacked him with a sword, an official said, adding that some people were also wounded.

The official said that police detained the man who attacked the station house officer.

The group claiming to be locals demanded that the farmers vacate the Singhu border, one of the main protest sites around the capital, alleging that they had “insulted” the national flag during their tractor parade on Republic Day.

Armed with sticks, the group reached the site and asked the farmers to leave while raising slogans against them. Both sides also pelted stones at each other. The protesters at the Singhu border, much of which is barred for entry from outside, came out in numbers to resist the locals.

However, they were promptly stopped by farmer union volunteers, which helped the situation from turning ugly.

Also read: BKU’s Rakesh Tikait ready to resume talks with Centre

Rakesh Tikait’s tears do the trick; protesters increase at Ghazipur border

Hundreds of farmers across Haryana move to rejoin Singhu, Ghazipur, Tikri protest sites

Sisodia visits Ghazipur border to check arrangements made by Delhi govt for farmers

Midnight movement for return of farmers to Delhi border protest sites begins from UP, Haryana, Punjab

Delhi police request people to share information on January 26 violence

The locals demanded that the farmers vacate the Singhu border protest site as they had “insulted” the national flag during their tractor parade on Republic Day.

Armed with sticks, the group of locals reached the site and asked the farmers to leave while raising slogans against them. Both sides also pelted each other with stones. The protesters at the Singhu border, much of which is barred for entry from outside, came out in numbers to resist the locals.

 “They are not locals, but hired goons. They were throwing stones, petrol bombs at us. They attempted to burn down our trolleys also. We are here to resist them. We won’t leave the place,” said Harkirat Mann Beniwal, 21, from Punjab’s Khana district.

Meanwhile, more protesters poured in at Singhu border. Police say the situation is now under control.

Thousands of protesting farmers had clashed with the police during the tractor rally called by farmer unions on January 26 to highlight their demand for repeal of the Centre’s three farm laws.

Many of the protesters, driving tractors, reached the Red Fort and entered the monument. Some protesters even hoisted religious flags on its domes and the flagstaff at the ramparts, where the national flag is unfurled by the prime minister on Independence Day.

Meanwhile, Haryana government suspended telecom, internet and SMS services in 14 districts in the aftermath of the clash. — Agencies/TNS

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 29

BKU (Tikait) spokesperson Rakesh Tikait’s tears appear to have done the trick. Not only have the number of protesters at Ghazipur increased with farmers from Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring Haryana joining in, support is also growing at Singhu and Tikri despite tension and clashes.

While throughout the night on Thursday meetings in Tikait’s support were held in several villages in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, on Friday the ‘mahapanchayat’ in Muzzafarnagar  decided that Ghazipur agitation would continue.

BKU president Naresh Tikat, who had earlier called off the agitation at Ghazipur, asked supporters to go and  support the protests at the Delhi-UP border.

After his (Naresh Tikat’s) earlier announcement there were visible signs of  thinning of protests at Ghazipur. However sources say even though an “agreement” was reached with the Tikait brothers that the protest site will be vacated, the increase in security forces and presence of Loni MLA Nand Kishore Gujjar and his supporters “vitiated the atmosphere”

Asserting that he will not surrender and will also call more people to join the protest if needed, Rakesh Tikait on Thursday broke down saying that “he would rather commit suicide than leave and end the protest against the farm laws”.

As Rakesh Tikait declared he would continue the protest at the Ghazipur border and not vacate till talks with the government were held, Naresh Tikait quickly called an emergency meeting and appealed to supporters to reach Ghaziput and scheduled a mahapachayat in Muzzafarnagar.

Apparently, Naresh Tikait also said that it was “their mistake” to support BJP candidate, Union Minister Sanjiv Balyan, against RLD chief Ajit Singh in the last Lok Sabha elections.

BKU founder, late Mahendra Singh Tikait, is revered by farmers as “second messiah” after late Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh in the western UP region.

Sources say optics of Rakesh Tikait, a jat/kisan leader, becoming sentimental and breaking down was enough to stir emotions among his community who “collectively felt humiliated”.

“Rakesh Tikait lost badly when he contested the polls a few years back. His support base is  limited, his father is the one who commanded the following. But then ‘Jats’ stand by each-other in ‘dukh’ (pain). It is a typical characteristic of the community which the BJP misunderstood and turned a possible retreat into a prestige issue for them.

“The basic sentiment now is that ‘BJP ne dukhi kar diya kyon ki wo Jat hai’ ( BJP created problems for him because Rakesh Tikait is a Jat)”.

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

Ghazipur, January 28

Tension escalated at Ghazipur bordering Delhi today with BKU national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait defying orders by the local administration to vacate the protest site and the Congress and RLD backing the farm union.

Tikait, among 37 leaders booked by Delhi Police for the Republic Day incidents, alleged there was a plot to “attack and kill” farmers and refused to budge despite Ghaziabad DM’s orders to clear the site by night.

“Police officials are here to take us away and a BJP MLA is waiting with supporters to attack and kill farmers,” Tikait claimed. “Anyone from the BJP will be taken hostage. I will hang myself but won’t call off protests until the farm laws are repealed,” he warned as police deployment at the site increased. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RLD chief Ajit Singh backed Tikait.

Tharoor, Sardesai booked for sedition

The UP Police have booked Congress’ Shashi Tharoor and six scribes, including Rajdeep Sardesai and Mrinal Pande, for sedition by way of ‘provocative’ posts.

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 28

Having been “sabotaged” briefly, farmer leaders have gone back to the Gandhian way to reclaim the movement from extremist elements.

From suspending two farmer organisations, which allegedly connived with extremist groups, to sitting on hunger strike and holding ‘sadbhavna’ (goodwill) marches at Singhu, there is an attempt to dissociate the movement from the January 26 events in the national capital.

On Thursday, members of the farmer organisations, holding the Tricolour and union flags, took out a “sadbhavna” rally at Singhu. Dr Darshan Pal, president, Krantikari Kisan Union, said there were some attempts at creating differences between members from Punjab and Haryana. “So we instantly planned this rally to tell our brothers from Haryana that we are united,” he said.

During the rally, senior farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said they wanted to tell the countrymen the farmers were bigger nationalists than the BJP. “We have great respect for our national flag,” he said.

The vehicles in the rally bore the national flag and photographs of Bhagat Singh as slogans of ‘Long live unity of Punjab and Haryana’ rent the air.

Apart from the ‘sadbhavna’ march, the unions have announced a hunger strike on the martyrdom day of Mahatma Gandhi (January 30). “We want to tell people we were equally pained at the hooliganism that unfolded at the Red Fort on January 26,” said Rajinder Singh Deep Singhwala, vice-president of the Kirti Kisan Union.

Sources say the unions have also acted tough against organisations that allegedly became part of the “sabotage” attempt allegedly perpetrated by Deep Sidhu, Lakha Sidhana, Students For Society and Democratic Students’ Organisation on January 26.

The sources say the BKU (Krantikari) and BKU (Doaba) have been suspended from the platform of 32 farmer organisations. They have also been asked to give an explanation before a five-member committee, to be headed by Balbir Singh Rajewal, a senior farmer leader.

Till their suspension is revoked, the organisations can neither attend any meeting nor can their speakers address from

the forum stage.