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Farmers hold mahapanchayat at Jantar Mantar to remind govt to keep its promises
The farmers once again sought a guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP), compensation to families of farmers killed in Lakhimpur Kheri during protests, and the release of farmers who were arrested during the yearlong agitation
Eight months after they ended their yearlong protest at Delhi’s borders, scores of farmers descended on the national capital on Monday and held a kisan mahapanchayat at Jantar Mantar, in a symbolic protest to signal to the Union government that they haven’t forgotten the promises that the government had made to them.
The farmers once again sought a guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP), compensation to families of farmers killed in Lakhimpur Kheri during protests, and the release of farmers who were arrested during the yearlong agitation. In all, six demands were mentioned in the memorandum handed over to authorities on Monday and the others included a write-off of farmer debts, consulting farmers on Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022, and a termination of a free trade agreement.
The mahapanchayat was attended by farmers from across the country, who reached the capital on Sunday and Monday on trains and buses and stayed at gurdwaras -- primarily Bangla Saheb, Rakab Ganj and Sis Ganj.
Around 8am Monday, thousands of them assembled at Jantar Mantar and, as the day progressed, more continued to join them.
Among those who turned up was Harendra Tau, 55, a member of the Bharatiya Kisan Union who had lived at the Ghazipur border protest site during the yearlong protest. “We are here to put forth our demands to the government. While this is a symbolic protest, we want to tell the government that if they don’t take note of this, a bigger demonstration will be planned. This is a show of strength so that the government doesn’t feel that we have weakened,” he said.
He said August 22 was chosen for the protest because the farmers’ agitation in Punjab against the erstwhile farm laws began the same day in 2020.
Farmers said preparations for the protest began a few days ago and different organisations were told to decide on the number of people who would participate in the protest.
Amandeep Kaur, 22, a volunteer from Punjab’s Bhatinda, came with a group of elderly persons. She said, “The government had promised MSP but nothing has been done. They said a council will be established and a farmer’s representative will be a part of it but that also has not happened.”
Amandeep was accompanied by 85-year-old Jaswinder Kaur. When asked if her travel was comfortable, she said, “When it’s a matter of one’s rights, one has to struggle”.
Several farmers from the south and east of the country also took part in the protest.
Binoy Thomas, 50, the Kerala state committee chairman of Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, said MSP is not only a requirement for Punjab and Haryana but for all agrarians across the country. “We were present during the yearlong protest and we stand with our brothers now,” he said.
Sachin Mahapatra from Odisha said farmers of his state are earning a meagre ₹1,200 a month in the absence of a concrete law on MSP. Because of rising debt, they are dying, he said. “The adivasi community has come here. They are the worst impacted. This is a collective fight,” Mahapatra said.
A few other farmers said it took them about three to five hours to reach Jantar Mantar from Delhi borders and alleged that it was a deliberate ploy by the Delhi Police to demotivate them.
Alamgir Usmani, a farmer from Bijnor, Rajasthan, said he and others with him were stopped at Chilla border and were made to wait for two hours in the name of “checking” before they were allowed to proceed.
Abhimanyu Kohar, national convener, Bhartiya Kisan Naujawan Union, part of SKM (non-political), said there was a 6-7km long snarl at the Singhu border where police had installed barricades and were clearing vehicles after checking.
“After crossing the border, there was another round of checking near Karnal bypass. It took us five hours to reach Jantar Mantar from Singhu. This was the police’s way to deter the protest,” he said.
The protest was called by a farmer’s body identified as SKM (non-political) under the leadership of Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta Sidhupur chief Jagjit Singh Dallewal. Around 3.30pm, he handed over a memorandum to the district magistrate (New Delhi) in the presence of the district deputy commissioner of police after which the crowd started dispersing.
An agriculture ministry official said he had no comment on the kisan mahapanchayat.
