KISANS gather at Jantar Mantar, demand fulfillment of their 15 point charter demands

The agrarian crisis has now literally come to the fore and the government of the day also exposed of its previous commitments about granting of MSP on farm products and loan waivers etc to the farmers of the country after hundreds of thousands of the ANN DAATAS, the peasents marching from Haridwar to Delhi in support of their 15 point charter demands have not only been brutally thrashed grievously injuring several of them but also snatching from them their peaceful right to protest while entering Delhi with about 5000 security personnel and riot police deployed at different corners using force and batons on them including the massively powerful plastic bullets and water canon.

The re emergence of a powerful unified farmers’ protest under the leadership of Rakesh Tikaith, the son of the former seasoned Kisan leader of Uttar Pradesh is a credible unified strength of thousands of farmers of Uttar Pradesh, particularly the Jat farmers of the Saharanpur, Meerut and Moradabad divisions after 38 years when late Mahendra Singh Tikaith had organised a massive sit in on the Delhi’s boat club for several days finally compelling the then union government during the eighties to fulfil their entire demands.

The current political dispensation at the centre and Uttar Pradesh led by the saffron party BJP had been shouting from the horses mouth about being the sole protector of the farmers interests despite increasing suicides by poor farmers at the pan India level. The government has been  boasting  of enhanced MSP on farm crops and loan waivers but in practice nothing or negligible seems to have been done till yet. Had it been the case, the annoyed and furious farmers wuld not have protested in such a massive scale say analysts.

The present energetic n enthusiastic protest of thousands of farmers who entered Delhi after several days of march on foot from Haridwar to the Indian capital fighting against all odds and massive challenges speaks of the unambiguous fact that they have actually been fooled n betrayed after winning elections at the centre and about twenty states of the country.

Some of the demands of the main 15 point charter on which the Bhartiya Kisan Union farmers lead by Rakesh Tikait, the BKU president are protesting are: Implementation of the Swaminathan committee report, MSP at 50% over and above weighed cost of production, blanket loan waivers including the 80% of the loan of the nationalised banks, implementation of the farmers pension scheme with farmers above the age of sixty acknowledging Rs 5000 per month, the entire pending payments of sugar cane be cleared n fixation of minimum sugar price to Rs. 40 per kg, free electricity n power for usage in tube wells n irrigational facilities, the next of the kin of the farmer who committed suicide should be given a government job, in case the agricultural labour is linked with MNREGA, the farmers should be duly consulted, equipments n tools used in Agriculture ( cultivation n irrigation) should be kept out of the ambit of the GST, Import of crops grown in excess/good quantity, should be banned, holding of special session of parliament to deliberate on the farmers issues threadbare, all farming lands should be acquired as per the land aquisition and the rehabilitation act of the union government and agriculture be kept out of the World Trade Organisation etc.

According to the government’s latest assesment: the farmers including those from Uttar Pradesh has the unpaid dues of Rs. 12, 988 crores. However, during the UPA tenure while Dr. Manmohan Singh was the PM, bank loans of farmers worth Rs.70000 crores were waived and the Congress staged come back in power at the centre.

Sources reveal that being the election year, particularly the elections in the three politically significant states where the BJP is already in power for two or more terms n in view of the fast approaching general elections and also due to the negative publicity the saffron party government in UP n the centre has acknowledged after the thrashing of the farmers at the Delhi UP border injuring several of them, profusely bleeding, the BJP top bosses and those at the helm of affairs particularly the prime minister Narendra Modi are in no mood to annoy and disenchant the farmers of the country on whose support and blessings it has won the largest state of Uttar Pradesh and the centre including in 19 other states of the country.

It is believed that majority of the demands would be fulfilled as there is no other wayout for the ruling party to come out of this impasse which may amount to losing of the grip in the farming sector which is considered to be the biggest vote bank.

If we believe in the analysis of some of the political analysts, the annoyance of the protesting farmers of western Uttar Pradesh accusing the Uttar Pradesh government in particular for betraying the farmers of the state in not fulfilling its pre election promises on loan waivers and other demands of farmers pension, free electricity for farming, clearing of sugarcane debts, etc,  the BJP government will suffer badly in the national election of 2019.

The recent speculation of the credible patch up between the SP, BSP n the Lok Dal backed by Congress etc particularly after the winning of the Kairana byelection badly defeating the ruling party candidate has tilted the farmers in favour of this new alliance.

The BJP has in the previous state election exploited the hindu polarisation environment after the Saharanpur riots to garner the support of the farmers, dalits n the backward communities of the Western UP when it had won all the 14 lok sabha seats and 65 assembly seats of the entire Saharanpur, Meerut and Moradabad belt but now the situation has turned topsy tervy with the Dalits and farmers having gone against the saffron party dispensationatthe centre as well as the state once banking on them fully.

Meanwhile the farmers have started gathering at Jantar Mantar in large numbers in support of their demands. According to the latest updates the leader of the farmers movement Rakesh Tripathi said that their movement is continuing, it has not been postponed.

He added: We are not satisfied  with the government’s stand but are waiting for the outcome from the government on our demands which we have discussed with them.  Till then we are protesting silently with a positive hope that someth8ng c9ncrete and satisfactory will definitely come out of it. What’s your take friends?