‘Same day, next year, Modi will not be PM of this country’: Naresh Tikait

Met with tear gas and water cannons at the Delhi-UP border on Gandhi Jayanti, the protesting farmers' concerns are very different from the ‘BJP vs Opposition’ narrative playing out on TV.

WrittenBy:Amit Bhardwaj
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Human beings have short memories. They forget about movements, police lathi charges, and even fake encounters. They might even forget what went down at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border on October 2.

Thousands of farmers waited for hours to be allowed entry into the national capital to protest against the Prime Minister’s agricultural policies. They wanted to raise the issue of the agrarian crisis that the farming community has been going through. Under the banner of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), they had started their Kisan Kranti Padyatra from Haridwar on September 23. When they reached the Delhi border in Ghazipur, Delhi police personnel and several battalions of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) were already waiting for them. Their barricades stopped the protesting farmers from stepping even an inch into the national capital. The protest was finally called off today, in the early hours of October 3.

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Delhi Police and RAF meet the farmers’ protest (Credit: Amit Bhardwaj)

Here’s the irony of the entire situation: The police—on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti—resorted to lathi charge against a community that forms the backbone of India. Even on the birth anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri, who coined the slogan “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan”, water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets were fired at kisans. The UP Gate at Ghazipur was turned into a battleground. And yet, hours after the crackdown, farmers were seen meeting police officers with smiles on their faces. They waited calmly, sitting on their tractors, for a response from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government.

Irrespective of whether the rest of the country remembers this incident or not in days to come, the farmers and farming community will. The simmering anger against the Modi and Yogi Adityanath government was apparent amongst those who had gathered at the Delhi-UP border.

The farmers were mobilised by the BKU. For those who are unaware of the BKU’s history and Mahendra Tikait’s legacy, here is short brief: in 1988, lakhs of farmers led by the BKU and late farmers’ leader Tikait entered Delhi along with their tractors. They took siege of the Boat Club and shook the Rajiv Gandhi government. Thirty years later, after talks between the BKU and the BJP government failed, Tikait’s son Naresh Tikait, said: “Same day, next year, Modi will not remain Prime Minister of this country”, and the crowd cheered.

Television cameras did give the police crackdown wall-to-wall coverage during the day. By evening, though, the voices of farmers were drowned out by a “BJP vs Opposition” narrative and the same old primetime question of “who is instigating people against the Modi government”.

Newslaundry met the farmers at the Ghazipur border and found that this protest had more to do with the agrarian economics than with politics.

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Flags waving high and mighty at the site of the protest (Credit: Amit Bhardwaj)

The bottom line of the protest was centred around making farming profitable. The farmers were more concerned about capping on the lifetime of their tractors, electricity rates, fertilisers and delayed payments of the minimum support price. Here are some voices from the protest, who peacefully waited to enter Delhi and push the 15 demands put forward by the BKU.

1.       Mukesh Kaushik, 56, owns 250 Bighas of land

Kaushik started his journey at Bulandshahr and reached Haridwar on September 22. He joined the Kisan Kranti Padyatra with his one tractor and three associates, only to be blocked by the police nine days later at the Delhi-UP border. During our conversation, he receives phone calls from friends and family and answers one, saying, “They (police) had started firing at the Yatra. The situation is tense.”

Kaushik tells us that ever since he left Haridwar, the farmers didn’t create any ruckus or inconvenience on their route to Delhi. His first concern, however, is the well-being of his tractor. “10 saal mein tractor katwa rahe hain. Kisaan pe kahan hai itna paisa ki naya tractor kharide ja (They have put a ban on usage of tractors after 10 years. Where will the farmers get money to buy a new tractor every 10 years)?” The National Green Tribunal had placed a ban on diesel vehicles older than 10 years, and tractors fall into this category. Kaushik points at his blue tractor—which looks well-maintained and comparatively new—and says, “This is barely 10 years old, look at its condition. Do you think I need to buy a new one?”

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Mukesh Kaushik on his tractor (Credit: Amit Bhardwaj)

Kaushik briefly discusses the other demands of the BKU, arguing that it’s more about making the farming community and farming activities profitable. “We shouldn’t be dependent on loan waivers,” he says. “Jiska paisa liya hai usko wapas dena chahiye (We should repay our loans). The government should assist the anndaatas, and they will not need loan waivers.”

Kaushik says he voted for Modi in 2014 and has been a BJP supporter but after the crackdown, he has become “anti-Modi”. He says, “They stopped our padyatra, fired at farmers, and used water cannons against us. When was the last time the farmers’ protest has meted this response by the Central government?”

2.       Uday Raj, 73, owns 20 Bighas of land

Uday Raj had once walked with farmers’ movement leaders like Mahendra Tikait. He describes at least three such movements, including one of the most historic sieges in Delhi. “We don’t care about who is in power. The farmers will continue the fight for their survival and the movement,” Raj says, adding that the minimum support price and agrarian revenue is all that matters to farmers.

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“Govt. is returning our dues with bullets”: Uday Raj (Credit: Amit Bhardwaj)

Jo cheese hum khareedein hain kheti ke liye, uska bhav badha ja raha hai. Jo hum beche hain wo fasal manda hota ja raha hai (The prices of materials that we need for farming—fertilisers, DAP, diesel—are skyrocketing. And the rates of our harvest are declining with time),” he says. The is the basic issue each farmer raises, along with the issue of minimum support price. Raj says the farmers are demanding that which is their right, and “the government is returning our dues with bullets”.

3. Gudu Pradhan, 48, owns 31 Bighas of land

Pradhan is district president of the BKU in Bulandshahr. He is the son of a retired army man and his two brothers are in the army too. He says, “Aaj humare saamne, Modi Sarkar ne humare bhaiyon ki fauz khadi kar di. Bhai ko bhai se marwa rahe hain. Esi vyavastha to antankwadi ke liye karein hain (Today, the Modi government has made our own brothers stand against us. Are we terrorists that such a crackdown was carried out against the farmers)?”

Pradhan argues that tractors are farming tools and used in farms, so why restrict its lifetime or usages? Buying tractors every 10 years simply increases the financial burden on the farming community. He also questions the high rates of GST imposed on tractors. He says the price of DAP—a popular phosphatic fertiliser—has increased and that the quantity per bag has been reduced. This has, in turn, increased the cost of production. He says, “The electricity rates have almost doubled under the Yogi government, making it yet another factor which has increased the cost of production.”

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Gudu Pradhan (L) (Credit: Amit Bhardwaj)

Pradhan labels the BJP government as “100 per cent anti-farmer” because the government has failed to address their issues.

4. Munfat Ali, 60, owns 40 Bighas land

Munfat Ali is wandering down the highway which has been blocked due to the padyatra and protests. He says, “I had to take money on loan for farming and I am still waiting for the payments of sugarcane (minimum support price of the harvest acquired by the mills).” When asked about the Yogi government’s claim about sugarcane dues having been cleared, Ali and his friends promptly reply: “Yogi is lying. Check our bank accounts and see whether our dues have been cleared.”

Ali has been associated with the BKU for almost three decades and is now one of its foot soldiers. For him, too, the priority is the subsidy on electricity, as well as controlling the rates of fertilisers and diesel. And, of course, the loan waivers. “While the loans of those defaulting have been waived off, farmers like us are still waiting for waivers.”

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Munafat Ali has been associated with KBU for 30 years (Credit: Amit Bhardwaj)

Ali questions the Modi government’s claim of having offered 150 per cent minimum support price. The other farmers around him ask who will count the labour cost of the people involved. “Talk of minimum support price in terms of the Swaminathan Committee recommendations,” Ali replies promptly.

5. Vrinder Sehrawat, 40, owns about 40 Bighas of land

“‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ ka naara jisne diya, uske janmdin par kishano par goli chalwa di Modi Sarkar ne (They resorted to crackdown on farmers on the birth anniversary of Shastri who gave the slogan of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’),” says Sehrawat, a resident of the now-BJP dominated Muzaffarnagar. He is angered by the party’s policies. “I want to remind Modiji of his own promises. Had he delivered on it, lakhs of farmers wouldn’t have taken to the streets.” Sehrawat further asks about the loan waivers that Modi and Yogi had promised—where are they now?

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Sehrawat says delayed payments have become a “trap” (Credit: Amit Bhardwaj)

He points out the fundamental flaw in the farming economic—at least the one prevalent in western UP. “The payments of sugarcane are delayed by months and hence the farmers are forced to take a loan. This becomes a trap.” While the farmers pay interest, they get none of their dues from the government. He says, “The farmer gets neither interest on their dues nor subsidy from the government. Who will penalise the government for the delay?” Sehrawat’s list of complaints is long and includes issues related to diesel prices and increased electricity rates in UP.

Reacting to suggestions made by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister Menaka Gandhi that western UP farmers should reduce their dependency on sugarcane, Sehrawat says: “The Central government should look into its own policy. When we are self-sufficient in sugarcane production, why are they importing sugar? It adversely affects our agrarian economy.”

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