In the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra in 2024, the people gave a remarkable 30 of the 48 seats to the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA-INDIA), an increase of 25 seats compared to 2019; voters gave only 17 seats to the NDA, a drop of 24 seats. An independent Congress rebel has won, and he has officially returned to the Congress, making the MVA total 31 out of 48 seats. Three Union Ministers of the BJP were defeated, along with 20 sitting MPs from the BJP-NDA.

The number of seats won and the votes secured by each party in Maharashtra in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is telling: MVA-INDIA – Congress – 13/17 seats (16.9 %), Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) – 9/21 seats (16.7 %), NCP (Sharad Pawar) – 8/10 seats (10.3 %). NDA – BJP – 9/28 seats (26.1 %), Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) – 7/15 seats (13 %), NCP (Ajit Pawar) – 1/4 seats (3.6 %), Rashtriya Samaj Party – 0/1 seat (0.8 %).

While these are certainly welcome developments, the voting percentage of the two fronts is far too close for comfort. For MVA-INDIA the percentage of voter support stands at 44 %, and for a while for the NDA it is 43.6 %.

In sharp contrast, the 2019 Lok Sabha election result for 48 seats was as follows: NDA – 41 seats (51.34 % votes), BJP – 23 seats (27.84 % votes), SS – 18 seats (23.5 % votes), UPA – 5 seats (32.01 % votes), NCP – 4 seats (15.66 % votes), INC – 1 seat (16.41 % votes), AIMIM (Aurangabad) – 1 seat (0.73 % votes), Independent (Amravati, later pro-BJP) – 1 seat (total of all independents and other smaller parties 3.72 % votes), Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA – Prakash Ambedkar) – 0 seats (6.92 % votes), Total – 48 seats (100 % votes).

The MVA fought the 2024 election with its back to the wall. Under pressure of the Modi regime, the Election Commission of India (ECI) gave both the name of the party and its symbol to the rebel SS and NCP factions led by Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar respectively. The original parties led by Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar were forced to take new election symbols. Money and media power were obviously largely controlled by the BJP. But the MVA fought back unitedly with grit and determination, and the people supported it.

The Maharashtra Lok Sabha results are even more significant because the state faces its Vidhan Sabha elections within just three more months, in October 2024.

A preliminary analysis of the Maharashtra Lok Sabha election results will reveal the following seven main reasons for the NDA setback and the MVA victory.

Corrupt and immoral Acts by BJP

First, the people were sick of the BJP and its corrupt and immoral acts in the state in the last two years, which resulted in the splits in the SS, and then in the NCP, and then again nibbling at some of the Congress leaders. Over 80 MLAs out of the 100-odd MLAs of the SS and the NCP together were induced to support the BJP by using a combination of threats and blandishments. It was through such dirty conspiracies that the discredited Shinde-Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar state government was brought into existence. The corrupt and unprincipled splintering of the SS and NCP led to a big sympathy wave for their original leaders and parties.

In such a situation, the veteran NCP leader of many battles Sharad Pawar, SS leader Uddhav Thackeray, and INC leader Nana Patole, spearheaded the resistance of the people against this political chicanery, and strengthened the unity of the MVA, which was further buttressed by the formation of the INDIA bloc at the national level. In the 2019 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections also, Sharad Pawar had played a salutary role of fighting against the BJP.

The most high-profile Lok Sabha election contest in Maharashtra this time was between Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, and Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar. Supriya Sule won by over 1.5 lakh votes. MVA leaders addressed scores of huge public meetings in their election campaign. In several constituencies, it became like an election of the people against the BJP.

Economic distress and struggles against this   

The second factor was clearly economic distress. The growing crisis in unemployment, inflation, agrarian distress, education, health, food security, and other sectors, and also the growing struggles on these issues in the state over the last few years, played a major part in ensuring the alienation of the people from the BJP-NDA.

In the agrarian sector, the falling prices of onions, cotton, soya bean, sugarcane, and milk, became a major issue. So also were the recurring droughts, unseasonal rains, and hailstorms, for which no relief was forthcoming. The anger of the scheme workers and other unorganised sections was palpable. On all these issues, there were sustained independent struggles and strikes by peasant and worker organisations in Maharashtra. As a result, the issue of economic distress had repercussions in all the regions of the state. As against the election campaign by Modi, Shah, Yogi, Nadda, Fadnavis, and other BJP leaders who only tried to create and intensify communal polarisation, the MVA-INDIA election campaign concentrated on these burning issues of the people.

Caste and reservations

The third factor was that of caste, and reservations. This was a direct result of the agrarian crisis and burgeoning unemployment. In the Marathwada region, where the Maratha quota stir was the most intense, the BJP could not win even a single of the eight MP seats in the region. In other regions also this issue hit the BJP. Another significant feature of this election was the massive support of Muslims and other minorities to the MVA-INDIA bloc. This support also extended to the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) group, because of it being a part of the MVA along with the Congress and the NCP, and also because Uddhav Thackeray as Chief Minister and later, had taken a balanced stand, which was the exact opposite of his father.

Spoilers checkmated

The fourth factor was the people themselves partly isolating the traditional spoilers like the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) led by Prakash Ambedkar, and the AIMIM led by Asaduddin Owaissi. Although the VBA put up its candidates in around 35 Lok Sabha seats, unlike in 2019, it could not fully achieve its desired aim of helping the BJP win. In the Akola Lok Sabha seat in Vidarbha, which Prakash Ambedkar himself contested, he came third behind the BJP and the Congress. In three other seats also, viz. Buldhana, Hatkanangale, and Mumbai North West, the votes polled by the VBA were more than the victory margins of the BJP-NDA candidates. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the VBA had helped the BJP-NDA to win in 11 seats.

Attack on Maharashtrian identity and pride   

The fifth factor was the attack on Maharashtrian identity and pride. In the past few years, a large number of industries and projects which had been earmarked for Maharashtra were arbitrarily shifted to Gujarat by the Modi regime. This was a source of great heartburn, because it adversely affected employment and development. On top of that, in his election speeches in Maharashtra, Modi insulted MVA leaders by calling Sharad Pawar a “bhatakti aatma” (wandering soul). He also called Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena a “nakli” (fake) Sena. All this was naturally seen by the people as insulting Maharashtrian identity and pride. This issue had big repercussions throughout the state.

Stiff competition to ‘Godi Media’ 

The sixth factor was that, even so far as the media is concerned, this time several popular independent media outlets and YouTube channels were seen by lakhs of people, giving a stiff competition to the corporate Godi media, and exposing its increasing loss of credibility. Also, several social organisations came together and hit the streets by organising their own public meetings and other imaginative programmes under different banners, like the ‘Nirbhay Bano Andolan’, ‘Nirdhar Maharashtracha (Determination of Maharashtra)’, and so on. With the encouraging poll results in the country and the state, this trend is sure to intensify in future.

Defence of democracy, secularism, and constitution    

And the seventh and last factor was, of course, the paramount issue in this whole election throughout the country – the defence of democracy, secularism, and the Constitution. The ‘400 paar’ slogan of the BJP was rightly interpreted by large sections of the people as showing its malignant intention to change and destroy the Constitution, and attack the rights given therein to the economically exploited and the socially oppressed. This became a major issue for Dalits, because Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar is regarded as one of the prime architects of the Constitution of India. But it was not an issue only for Dalits. It influenced large sections of the patriotic people in the state and the country. And the MVA-INDIA election campaign rightly concentrated on this issue. This concerted campaign had the desired impact.

Role of the Left

So far as the CPI(M) and the Left were concerned, the MVA did not leave any seat for them in the seat sharing, in spite of their concerted efforts. In the two seats of Dindori (ST) in Nashik district and Palghar (ST) in Palghar district, the CPI(M) has a mass base of around one lakh votes each. It also has a reasonable presence in some other seats. But the Party avoided fighting these seats outside the MVA, since it would have divided the secular vote and helped the BJP to win. CPI(M) activists all over Maharashtra did good and sustained work to ensure the victory of several MVA candidates. This was warmly acknowledged by the top leadership of the MVA itself. It is expected that the CPI(M) and the Left will contest some seats as part of the MVA in the coming state assembly elections.

After this salutary victory in the Lok Sabha elections, the MVA-INDIA bloc will have to be even more vigilant, and redouble its efforts and its inclusivity to throw the BJP-NDA out of power in the ensuing Vidhan Sabha elections in Maharashtra which will take place in October 2024.

(The author is Member, CPI (M) Polit Bureau and National President, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS)

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author’s personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sabrangindia. 

Related:

M’tra: A blow to BJP-NDA, a shot in the arm for MVA-INDIA

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The day of the Delhi Convention, August 24, coincidentally was also the birth anniversary of martyr Shivram Hari Rajguru, who hailed from Pune district in Maharashtra, and who courageously faced the British gallows along with two more immortal martyrs, Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev Thapar on March 23, 1931.

Significant Struggle

This nationwide worker-peasant struggle will target the corporate-communal central government of the BJP-RSS led by Narendra Modi, and the whole gamut of its disastrous policies. The first day of this countrywide struggle, Sunday, November 26, will mark three historic events.  The first is the beginning of the unprecedented SKM-led farmers’ struggle on the Delhi borders from November 26, 2020 against the three anti-farmer, anti-people and pro-corporate Farm Laws that were foisted in a most authoritarian manner by the Modi-led BJP central government.

Hundreds of thousands of farmers took part in this massive struggle which spread all over the country, and continued unabated for one year and fifteen days, i.e. 380 days till it was suspended on December 11, 2021. It resulted in a magnificent victory.

The Modi regime had to surrender and the three hated Farm Laws were repealed. However, nearly 750 farmers were martyred in this year-long struggle.  The second is the All India Strike called by the CTU on the same day as the farmers’ struggle began, on November 26, 2020.

Over 20 crore workers and employees, both organised and unorganised, took part in this huge strike action. This day thus truly marked worker-peasant unity in action.

The third is that it is Constitution Day. It was on November 26, 1949 that the Constituent Assembly, after intensive deliberations, adopted the Constitution of India, all the basic principles of which are today under grave threat.  November 28, the last day of this struggle, is the death anniversary of one of the foremost champions of the peasantry and of social justice in India, Mahatma Jotirao Phule. It was Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar who claimed that Mahatma Phule was one of his gurus.

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Concerted preparations

Concerted preparations have been in progress for months to make these Mahapadav actions from 26 to 28 November a great success in all states. Joint worker-peasant conventions and meetings have been held in all states, and even in many districts. Hundreds of thousands of leaflets have been distributed in innumerable public meetings, big and small. The SKM-CTU have prepared, and the Delhi Convention has adopted, a comprehensive 21-point Charter of Demands which has been popularised all over India. A massive social media campaign has also been conducted nationwide. As a result of all this, lakhs of peasants and workers will be mobilised in these actions all over the country. They will be joined by thousands of women, youth, and students. People of all religions, castes, languages and regions will take part in this massive united struggle.

Combating the Agrarian Crisis

For rural India, the SKM has concentrated on those demands which are the burning issues of the peasantry and which will directly help to ameliorate the deep and chronic agrarian crisis. This crisis has further intensified in the last three decades because of the neo-liberal policies followed by successive central governments.

The present Modi government is by far the worst in this regard.  There are two glaring symptoms of the agrarian crisis in India today. The first is the shocking suicides of over 4 lakh farmers in the country in the last 30 years, mainly due to indebtedness. Of these over 1 lakh farmers were forced to commit suicide in the last 10 years of the Modi regime alone. Farming has become un-remunerative and hazardous. Hundreds of thousands of farmers have been forced to sell off their land to reduce their debt, and have thus joined the ranks of the landless.

The second symptom is the rapidly growing hunger in the country. The Global Hunger Index is an accurate pointer to this. In 2014, when the Modi regime came to power, India ranked 55 out of 120 countries in this index. Today in 2023, India has sharply slid down to 111 out of 125 countries. Which means that only 14 countries in the world, which are quite small in population, are hungrier than India.

The deaths of thousands of Adivasi and Dalit children per year in some states due to starvation and malnutrition continue unabated. The big increase in anaemia, especially among women and children, is also a pointer to this malnutrition.

#VIDEO// #WATCH

MY Tarigami leads protest in Srinagar as farmers start 3-day protest over Minimum Support Price and other issues. Says we urge the government, especially in the case of Jammu and Kashmir to revise its policy and impose 100 percent tax on import of foreign apples… pic.twitter.com/kY2f3nRFE8

— KNS (@KNSKashmir) November 26, 2023

Burning Demands of the Peasantry

It is in this background that the SKM has highlighted certain burning demands of the peasantry in this struggle.  The first demand, which was also forcefully raised in the 2020-21 Delhi blockade, is for a legal guarantee of a Minimum Support Price (MSP) at one and a half times the comprehensive cost of production (C2 + 50%). This was one of the fundamental recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) that was chaired by the renowned agro-scientist Dr M S Swaminathan. Without this principle being accepted and implemented, there can be no relief in the agrarian crisis.

Allied to this is the crucial issue of sharply bringing down the cost of production by reduction in the astronomical price of seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, diesel, power, and water. This can be done only by strict regulation and control over the domestic and foreign corporate lobby, increase in input subsidy, cutting the abominable central government excise duty on diesel, petrol, and gas, and other measures.

The BJP election manifesto in 2014 had promised MSP as above, but like all its other promises, this too turned out to be a ‘jumla’. On the contrary, the very next year, in February 2015, the BJP government shamelessly submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court, in which it said that implementing its own MSP promise was not possible because “it would distort the market.”

The second key demand of the struggle is the complete liberation from debt of the peasantry and agricultural workers. This can only be done through a comprehensive loan waiver scheme by the central government. Two central governments had earlier granted a partial loan waiver to the peasantry – the V P Singh-led National Front government in 1990, and the Manmohan Singh-led UPA-1 government in 2008.

The Modi government has point-blank refused to give a peasant loan waiver in the last 10 years. On the contrary, it has written off loans worth over Rs 15 lakh crore to its handful of crony corporates in this period.

The third major demand is for a comprehensive crop insurance scheme to fully protect the peasantry against natural calamities like drought, floods, hailstorms, unseasonal rains, and so on. These calamities are greatly intensifying due to climate change and global warming.

But the present Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is worse than useless, because all available data proves that it helps the corporate insurance companies to amass massive profits, and harms the farmers in distress by denying them compensation for crop damages.

The fourth important issue that has been highlighted is that of a substantial monthly pension to both farmers and agricultural workers. Other vital rural issues that are being raised in this struggle are the expansion of MGNREGA so as to double the days of work and triple the wages paid to agricultural workers; stringent implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) to vest forest land in the names of the Adivasis who have been cultivating it for generations; other issues concerning land rights and land acquisition; withdrawal of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill and the cancellation of the anti-farmer pre-paid smart meters scheme which will sharply raise electricity bills; key issues concerning expansion of irrigation; strengthening the public distribution system (PDS) to ensure food security to all; and so on.

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Working class and peoples’ issues

Apart from peasant issues, this struggle will of course take up the burning issues of the working class like a National Minimum Wage of Rs 26,000 per month, abolition of the contract and casual system, repeal of the four Labour Codes, reversion to the old pension scheme, government employee status and resultant benefits to scheme workers, filling up of all government vacant posts, an end to privatisation and to the National Monetisation Pipeline, and so on. This struggle will also take up issues of the common people, prominent among which are the back-breaking price rise and the escalating unemployment, along with important demands concerning education, health, housing and so on.

Vital Issues to be Flagged

One vital issue that will be flagged is the glaring disparities in the country. The alarming inequality in India is captured by the Oxfam 2023 Report, which says that 1 per cent of the richest Indians own 40 per cent of the wealth of the country, 10 per cent of the richest own 72 per cent of its wealth, and the poorest 50 per cent of the population (meaning 70 crore people) owns just 3 per cent of the wealth of the country.

It is this entire trajectory that has to be thrown out lock, stock and barrel, by effecting both a regime change and also a policy change.

Above all, the November 26-28, 2023 nationwide united struggle of lakhs of workers and peasants will fight tooth and nail to defeat the Modi-led BJP-RSS government which is out to:

1. Sell the country at a pittance to domestic and foreign corporates like Adani, Ambani and others through its privatisation drive;
2. Break the country and the unity of its people using the divisive elements of religion, caste, region, and language;
3. Subvert the Constitution and dynamite its basic features of sovereignty, democracy, secularism, and federalism.

There is no doubt that the November 26-28, 2023 struggle by the workers and peasants of India will play a major role in saving India and then in changing India for the better. Let us bend all our energies to make it a resounding success!

(The author is National President,All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS))

The post SKM-CTU Call for a countrywide united worker-peasant struggle for both regime change and policy change appeared first on SabrangIndia.

July 8, 2022 marked the birth centenary day of Comrade Ahilya Rangnekar, one of the intrepid women revolutionaries of Maharashtra, and of the country.  Ahilya Rangnekar was born on July 8, 1922 at Pune. Her father Trimbak Ranadive was a progressive who supported the social reform movement led by Mahatma Jotirao Phule and other stalwarts. He actively opposed discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, or gender. In Ahilya’s youth, she was influenced by her elder brother B T Ranadive, who was a front ranking leader of the Communist movement. After her schooling at Pune and Thane, she joined the B.Sc. course at the Fergusson College at Pune at the age of 20 in 1942. 

Ahilya’s plunge into the freedom struggle

On August 8, 1942, the Quit India movement began, and the next day the entire Congress leadership was put behind bars. Ahilya, along with several other girl students, led a protest rally at Pune. They were all arrested and thrown into jail. In jail, these girls made a makeshift national flag after cutting and stitching up white, orange and green sarees, and drawing the Ashok Chakra by charcoal. The girls formed a pyramid inside the jail wall, and Ahilya hoisted the national flag within the jail. For this ‘crime’, her jail term was extended. She was also rusticated from the Fergusson College for this act, and came back to Mumbai to the Ruia College, where she completed her graduation. Along with being an accomplished student, she was also a great sportsperson, actress, and singer, and won several medals and awards.  

She joined the Communist Party in 1943 and plunged into the freedom movement and the struggle of working class women. The same year she formed the Parel Mahila Sangh, which led several successful struggles of women textile workers. This organisation later became the Shramik Mahila Sangh, and still later, it merged into the Akhil Bharatiya Janwadi Mahila Samiti (AIDWA).

In 1945, Ahilya married Pandurang Bhaskar Rangnekar, who was a prominent student leader in Mumbai and was one of the national joint secretaries of the All India Students’ Federation (AISF) in pre-independence years. PBR was later for many years a Maharashtra state secretariat member of the CPI (M), its state office secretary, and a very able guide to the student and youth fronts in Maharashtra. He was undoubtedly my guide and mentor in the party, just as Godavari Parulekar was my guide and mentor in the Kisan Sabha. I had the honour to pen a birth centenary tribute to PBR in these columns (People’s Democracy and Jeewanmarg) in December 2012.   

One of the most chilling incidents in Ahilya’s life came during the historic Royal Indian Navy (RIN) revolt in Mumbai in February 1946. The Congress and the Muslim League both refused to support the RIN revolt, and in fact, their leaders told the naval ratings to surrender to the British. It was only the Communist Party that came out in full and active support of the RIN revolt. Under the leadership of the undivided CPI and the AITUC, the workers of Mumbai went on strike and came on to the streets in thousands in solidarity with the RIN heroes. 

During the revolt, Ahilya played an important role in supplying food to the naval ratings on behalf of the women’s organisation. When the British ordered a brutal crackdown on the workers on February 22, 1946, Ahilya faced British bullets. Along with her was another brave woman comrade, Kamal Donde, who was martyred in the police firing. Kusum Ranadive, Ahilya’s sister, who was also there at the time, received a bullet injury in her leg. Ahilya escaped miraculously, but she stood by the protesters facing British bullets.

Leader of the people

After independence, the biggest mass struggle that Ahilya was associated with was the iconic Samyukta Maharashtra Movement in the 1950s. The Communist Party, the Praja Samajwadi Party, the Peasants and Workers Party and the Republican Party came together to form the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti, which led an intense mass democratic struggle for the formation of the linguistic state of Maharashtra with Mumbai as its capital. 106 workers and peasants were martyred by bullets of the then Congress state government. Ahilya mobilised large number of women in the struggle for Samyukta Maharashtra and faced jail and lathis. Prahlad Keshav (Acharya) Atre, a renowned Marathi journalist, writer, and a leader of the struggle, wrote a poem in a daily describing Ahilya as ‘Rana Ragini’ (Queen of the Battlefield).

Ahilya then devoted herself to organise and help the poor in slum areas and was elected as a Municipal Corporator of Mumbai in 1961. She was constantly re-elected as Corporator till 1977, when she was elected to Parliament. In the Corporation, she raised problems and issues faced by the slum population and became extremely popular among them. She led several demonstrations and agitations of slum dwellers and addressed their rallies. She was also constantly active in the trade union struggles in Mumbai city.

Ahilya was arrested during the India-China conflict in 1962 and she had to undergo imprisonment for advocating a solution to the border dispute through negotiation. Along with many other Communist leaders, she remained in jail for three and a half years from 1962 to 1966. After the bitter struggle against right revisionism, the CPI (M) was formed at the 7th Congress at Kolkata in October-November 1964. When left sectarian trends emerged in the CPI (M) in 1967, Ahilya rallied behind the Party and fought against the left sectarian trend too.

When CITU was founded in 1970 at Kolkata, Ahilya took keen interest in building the CITU in Maharashtra and was soon elected one of the state vice presidents of Maharashtra CITU. CITU All India Conferences were held in Mumbai in 1975, and again in 1987, and Ahilya along with others played an important role in the preparations on behalf of the reception committee. In 1975 she was elected to the general council of the CITU.

In the early 1970s, large joint women’s struggles against the price rise of essential commodities took place in Mumbai and Maharashtra. They took the form of huge ‘rolling pin rallies’ of thousands of women which were led by Ahilya Rangnekar, Mrinal Gore, Tara Reddy, and other women leaders. These created a big political impact.

In 1975, the Congress government led by Indira Gandhi proclaimed Emergency and suppressed democratic rights in the country. Ahilya opposed the Emergency and was detained for 19 months from 1975-77. A countrywide struggle developed against the Emergency to oppose the dictatorial policies pursued by the Indira Gandhi government.

In recognition of the prominent role played by Ahilya in every popular struggle in Maharashtra, during the 1977 parliamentary elections she was nominated by the CPI (M) to contest from the Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency. She was elected with a big majority, routing the Congress candidate. In the same election, Lahanu Kom and Gangadhar Appa Burande of the CPI (M) were also elected to the Lok Sabha from Maharashtra. As a member of the Lok Sabha, Ahilya raised several issues of the people in Maharashtra and other states.

In 1978, at the 10th Jalandhar Congress of the CPI(M), Ahilya was elected to the Central Committee of the Party. Maharashtra thus had the distinction of having two women Central Committee members for several years – the legendary peasant leader Godavari Parulekar (who was elected to the Central Committee in 1967), and Ahilya Rangnekar. Ahilya ably carried out that responsibility for 27 years till 2005, when she stepped down for reasons of age and health. 

From 1983 to 1986, Ahilya was elected state secretary of the CPI(M) in Maharashtra. She is probably the only woman state secretary of the Party in the country so far. She relinquished the post because her eye ailment became serious. For many years before and after that, she continued in the Party’s state secretariat.

Ahilya was elected one of the national vice-presidents of CITU in 1979. She, along with Vimal Ranadive and Susheela Gopalan, played a crucial role in organising the first all India convention of working women at Chennai in 1979, which resulted in the formation of the All India Co-ordination Committee of Working Women. This Co-ordination Committee has played a significant role in strengthening the activities of working women and increasing the leading role of working women at all levels in the organisation.

In 1981, Ahilya was one of the founders of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) at the Chennai national conference. She was elected as vice-president of the organization, a post she held for several years. She was then the national working president. Later, she was honoured as a patron of AIDWA. She was the Maharashtra state president of AIDWA for several years. She continued to work actively both in AIDWA and CITU and participated in every struggle conducted by these two organisations.

When the LPG policies dictated by the World Bank and the IMF were imposed on India, Ahilya joined all the campaigns and struggles launched by the Party, the united trade union movement, and the women’s movement of India. She was also a staunch opponent of communalism, casteism and gender oppression in all its forms. Despite weakening of her eyesight, her enthusiasm in participating in activities even after crossing the age of the eighties was an inspiring example for the younger generation. 

The passing away of her husband P B Rangnekar on February 8, 2008, at the age of 95, was a shock to her in her declining years. A 63-year old partnership came to an end. Both of them were completely devoted to the party and the mass movement. A year later, on April 19, 2009, at the age of 87, Ahilya breathed her last, 67 of those years were selflessly devoted to the Communist Party. Thousands of people, both from the Party, and from outside, came and wept at her funeral. They are survived by their two sons Ajit and Abhay, and their families.

A remarkable human being

Ahilya Rangnekar was a remarkable human being. One of her characteristics was her going out of her way to help people get their work done. For this she used to visit Mantralaya (Secretariat) in Mumbai often. Chief Ministers and Ministers, of whichever party, used to invariably stand up in respect when she entered their cabin. She never took any appointment. She only approached them for a problem of the people, so they could never refuse. Such was her incredible moral stature. I have myself been witness of this several times.

More than four decades ago, when we were in the Students Federation of India (SFI), there were numerous occasions when we launched struggles on various issues, held militant demonstrations, conducted road blockades, and also gheraoed Ministers in Mantralaya. We faced lathi charges and arrests. The first person from the Party who used to invariably come to the police lock-up when we were arrested and encourage us was our Ahilyatai, as all of us used to fondly call her.

Every morning at her home in Mumbai for decades, there used to be a virtual people’s durbar, although she was never in power. People from all walks of life used to crowd her house and apprise her of their problems. And she used to help them to the maximum extent possible. It was from these wide interactions that Ahilya developed an uncanny grasp of the pulse of the people. I remember that this quality of hers used to help us a lot in the Party’s state secretariat when taking decisions about future movements.        

Ahilya’s simple style of living endeared her to all comrades. She always maintained austerity and modesty. People of all political parties had great respect for her despite ideological and political differences. All hailed her tremendous sacrifice and her unblemished integrity during her political life of six decades. She was a model example of a Communist leader.

Ahilya’s conviction about Marxism-Leninism was unquestionable. Her concern and love for the country, the people and our Party knew no bounds. I experienced this often from the talks that we had when both of us used to travel together to Delhi for Central Committee meetings of the Party. Since she was an ex-MP, I used to travel free with her as her companion. 

My last memories of Ahilyatai were her regular phone calls to me in her last year. I was then state secretary of the Party in Maharashtra and used to remain in our state office, ‘Janashakti’ until late hours. She used to ask me what new is happening in the Party and the mass fronts, with the remark, “Ashok, I cannot go out anywhere, I cannot read our Party papers due to my failing eyes, PBR is also now no more, that is why I am troubling you.” I used to tell her in detail all that was happening, often with tears in my eyes at her tremendous dedication.  

Long Live Comrade Ahilya Rangnekar!

Red Salute to Comrade Ahilya Rangnekar on her Birth Centenary!

(The author is National President All India Kisan Sabha)

The post To Ahilya Rangnekar, an intrepid revolutionary, April 19, on her death anniversary appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) in Maharashtra began the third Kisan Long March from Dindori in Nashik district to Mumbai on March 12, 2023, on a 15-point charter of demands. It was withdrawn at Vasind in Thane district six days later on March 18, after the state government conceded many of the major demands in writing and the Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde, placed the agreement with the AIKS before the state assembly on March 17.

(See separate box for demands conceded by government.) 

Three Kisan Long Marches 

This was the third such Kisan Long March in Maharashtra led by the AIKS. The first and the most effective was the one from Nashik to Mumbai, which lasted full seven days from March 6-12, 2018. The second lasted only two days, from February 20-21, 2019 within Nashik tehsil, because three Ministers of the state government gave written assurances to the AIKS on the second day of the march. The third lasted six days from March 12-18, 2023, from Dindori to Vasind. 

While there was a preparatory time of at least three weeks for the first two marches, the third began with less than a week’s preparation, because of the circumstances under which it was undertaken. Onion prices for farmers had plummeted suddenly; an immediate response was necessary; and the state assembly was due to end in the third week of March. The shortage of time naturally reflected in the strength of the march. While the first Kisan Long March of 2018 began at Nashik with 25,000 peasants and culminated in Mumbai with 50,000 peasants, the third Kisan Long March began at Dindori with 10,000 peasants and culminated at Vasind with 15,000 peasants. However, it still raised all the crucial issues affecting farmers at an appropriate moment time and also received good media coverage. 

In all the three Long Marches, the lion’s share of the mobilisation was from among Adivasi farmers  from Nashik district, followed by Adivasi farmers from Thane-Palghar and Ahmednagar districts. There was also representation of non-Adivasi peasants from the above four districts, as also plus from several districts of Vidarbha, Marathwada and Western Maharashtra regions, especially in the first two marches. In the third march, as mentioned above, time for preparation fell short. Adivasi peasant women and youth participated in large numbers in all three marches. 

Coming of the red storm  

By the night of March 12, 2023, the marchers from various tehsils of Nashik district, and from other districts of Maharashtra gathered at the Mhasrul Maidan just outside Nashik city. On the next morning, March 13, amidst great enthusiasm they marched into Nashik city. The march was replete with thousands of red caps, red placards, red flags, and red banners. Banner headlines in the Marathi newspapers hailed the coming of the “Laal Vaadal” (Red Storm). At the Dindori Chowk the marching farmers threw down onions, tomatoes, brinjals, potatoes and other vegetables on the road in anger at the falling prices of all these items. The media captured those memorable moments on camera. 

On March 13 and 14, the Kisan Long March walked along the Agra-Nashik-Mumbai National Highway through Nashik district and reached the scenic spot of Ghatandevi near Igatpuri at night. After walking the whole day in the scorching sun, it was inspiring to see how Adivasi farmers, women and men still had the energy to sing and dance energetic collective tribal dances into the wee hours of the morning. Their anger against the government and the system could be seen with every step of the joyous anger of the dance. 

On the morning of March 15, the Kisan Long March descended downwards along the famous serpentine Kasara Ghat, with high hills on one side and deep valleys on the other. The march by now had left Nashik district and entered the Thane district. Stunning photographs of the march were captured here by the electronic and print mainstream media and they soon reached all parts of the country. Sections of the social media did even better. By March 16, the marchers reached the Idgah Maidan at Vasind in Thane district, three days walk away from Mumbai.   

Negotiations with the state government

Due to the past experience of the widespread popular and political support that the 2018 Kisan Long March had received, the Shinde-Fadnavis state government was naturally, nervous. On the night of March 12 itself, a senior state Minister Dada Bhuse held a preliminary meeting with an AIKS delegation at Nashik. CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis declared that they, along with concerned Ministers, will meet an AIKS delegation on March 14 at 3 pm in the State Assembly premises. On March 14, a state-wide strike of hundreds of thousands of state government employees and teachers began, for the old pension scheme and other related demands. The state government suddenly postponed the March 14 meeting with the AIKS to the next day, March 15. 

The AIKS responded by marching on towards Mumbai, refusing to go for the March 15 talks, and demanding that now, state Ministers come to negotiate with the marchers. Eventually, two Ministers Dada Bhuse and Atul Save came to meet the marchers, held discussions and requested the AIKS leadership to come to the State Assembly premises on March 16 afternoon for full-fledged discussions with the CM, deputy CM, and other concerned Ministers and officials. While agreeing to go for the talks, the AIKS made it clear that the Kisan Long March will continue on its route to Mumbai until a satisfactory agreement has been reached. 

On March 16, at the invitation of the CM Shinde and Deputy CM of Maharashtra, Phadnavis, a 16-member AIKS delegation held a two and a half hour discussion with the state government in the state assembly premises in Mumbai. For this discussion six other concerned Ministers, the Chief Secretary, and several Secretaries of related departments were present. Among those in the AIKS delegation that met representatives of the state government were J P Gavit, ex-MLA, Dr Ashok Dhawale, Dr Ajit Nawale, Dr Uday Narkar, Vinod Nikole, MLA, Dr D L Karad, Umesh Deshmukh, Subhash Choudhary, Irfan Shaikh, Arjun Adey, Kiran Gahala, Mohan Jadhav, Ramesh Choudhary, Indrajit Gavit, Hiraman Gavit and Manjula Bangal. The talks ended on a positive note, with the government acceding to most of the 15-point Charter of Demands of the farmers.  

But the AIKS refused to withdraw the Kisan Long March and decided to continue their sit-in at Vasind, district Thane till such time as the Minutes of the decisions of this meeting were not placed on the table of the State Assembly and instructions about their implementation were not sent out to all district officials. In the face of such a resolute decision by the AIKS, the Chief Minister was forced on March 17 to announce all the decisions on the floor of the Legislative Assembly in a 15-minute address. On March 18, the AIKS received an official copy of the decisions and the Government also issued the same to all the district and lower authorities. In the wake of this significant victory, the third Kisan Long March was withdrawn on March 18, after six long days. 

A tragic incident occurred on the second last day of the March. A farmer who had walked in the march right from the beginning, Pundalik Ambadas Jadhav, age 58, Village Mavdi, Tehsil Dindori, Dist Nashik, died of illness in a government hospital at Shahapur in Thane district, where he had been admitted. This was a great shock. J P Gavit immediately demanded compensation from the state government. The CM had to announce Rs 5 lakh as ex gratia payment to the family of the peasant martyr.

Congratulations from the AIKS leadership 

The AIKS leadership congratulated the farmers of Maharashtra for the victorious third Kisan Long March. It concluded its statement by saying, “The AIKS-led Kisan Long March in 2018 had caught the imagination of the people and had instilled confidence in all democratic sections by forcing the then BJP-led State Government to accept almost all demands. In 2023, yet again the poor peasants, a large number of them Adivasis, with women leading from the front, have forced the SS-BJP to bow down and accept the demands. This victory will inspire militant struggles against the anti-people BJP Government and its pro-corporate policies. Coming just a fortnight before the Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally at Delhi, it will also inspire the working class and the peasantry to come out in bigger numbers in all forthcoming struggles.” 

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The post Adivasi and other farmers under the AIKS bring Maharashtra govt to its feet appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Stinging slaps to BJP in Punjab, UP & Haryana

On February 17, the results of the elections to eight municipal corporations and 109 municipal councils and nagar panchayats (city councils) in Punjab were declared. The BJP was handed down a stinging defeat even by urban voters. Of the total 1815 seats in the 109 municipal bodies, the BJP won in only 38 seats. Of the total 350 seats in the 8 municipal corporations, it won just 20. But that was not all. The BJP even found it difficult to get candidates to contest. And many of the BJP candidates who did contest refused to take the BJP symbol. Such was their fear of the people.

The Shiromani Akali Dal, which had been with the BJP for the last several decades, but had recently broken with the NDA over the three Farm Laws, also paid a price. It won 289 seats in the municipal bodies and 33 seats in the municipal corporations. AAP got 57 and 9 seats respectively. The biggest gainer was the ruling Congress in the state, which won 1199 and 281 seats respectively, sweeping 7 of the 8 municipal corporations and most of the other municipal bodies. In fact, independents emerged as the second largest group after the Congress.

Uttar Pradesh is slated to hold its three-tier panchayat elections within two months, in April 2021. For the last one month after January 26, the political situation in Western Uttar Pradesh has dramatically turned against the BJP. Leaders of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), BKU (Tikait), AIKS and other farmers’ organisations, along with leaders of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Congress, CPI (M) and other political parties have been addressing massive Kisan Mahapanchayats in several areas of Western Uttar Pradesh against the Farm Laws and for an MSP Law. They are naturally targeting the Modi-Shah-led BJP regime at the Centre. 

The result of all this is that large boards are being put up outside several villages in Western Uttar Pradesh, as they have been in the last three months in Punjab and Haryana, denying entry to BJP men in those villages. Calls have been given for a social boycott of BJP leaders. BJP’s Union Minister of State and Muzaffarnagar MP Sanjeev Baliyan and several BJP MLAs were driven out by farmers when they tried to strike a dialogue with them. In Soram village, Baliyan’s goons accompanying him clashed with farmers after which the police of the BJP’s Yogi regime promptly slapped cases against the farmers. This has further incensed the peasant community.

The same picture is to be seen in Haryana for the last three months. Huge Kisan Mahapanchayats are castigating the BJP-led Khattar government and also the JJP led by deputy chief minister Dushyant Singh Chautala, who had earlier announced that he would quit the government if the farmers’ issues were not solved by January 26. It is now a month since his own deadline. Yet he continues to stick to his post like a leech, to the derision of the peasantry.

Massive nationwide rail rook

It may be recalled that the SKM Chakka Jaam (Road Blockade) call on February 6 had mobilised hundreds of thousands farmers at over 3000 centres in over 600 districts in almost all states across the country. In response to the next SKM call, a massive nationwide Rail Roko agitation was conducted by farmers on February 18 in nearly 600 centres in almost all states. It was one of the most extensive Rail Roko stirs in India in recent years. Hundreds of thousands of farmers took part, including thousands of women farmers, and thousands of farmers were arrested or detained. Among AIKS leaders arrested were National Joint Secretary Badal Saroj, Bihar State President Lalan Choudhary, Telangana State General Secretary T Sagar, Madhya Pradesh State Joint Secretary Akhilesh Yadav and many others.  

Preliminary reports collected at the SKM meeting and information collected by the AIKS, show that these Rail Rokos took place in various centres as follows: Bihar – 100, West Bengal – 77, Punjab – 70, Jharkhand – 65, Haryana – 57, Telangana – 55, Odisha – 30, Uttar Pradesh – 27, Rajasthan – 25, Andhra Pradesh – 23, Maharashtra – 12, Madhya Pradesh – 11, Karnataka – 11, Tripura – 5, Chhattisgarh – 5, Himachal Pradesh – 3, Uttarakhand – 1, Jammu & Kashmir – 1. The election-going state of Kerala held large demonstrations at all the 14 district centres. In the other election-going states of Tamil Nadu and Assam, the Rail Roko action could not be held.

Meanwhile, massive Kisan Mahapanchayats continue to be held in North India. One of the largest was held last week at Barnala in Punjab by the BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) and the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union. It mobilized over one lakh farmers and agricultural workers and was addressed by Joginder Singh Ugrahan and others. Other largerallies of tens of thousands of peasants were held at Sikar and Churu in Rajasthan. They were addressed by several SKM leaders, including Balbir Singh Rajewal, Rakesh Tikait, Yogendra Yadav, AIKS Vice President Amra Ram and others.

Future stir by SKM

The SKM meeting held on February 21 at the Singhu border was chaired by AIKS Haryana State Vice President Inderjit Singh and, along with leaders of other organizations, was attended by AIKS President Ashok Dhawale, Finance Secretary P Krishna Prasad and Punjab State Vice President Baljit Singh Grewal. After review and discussion, the meeting took the following decisions to extend the nationwide struggle.

1. February 23 was observed as Pagdi Sambhal Divas to mark the birth anniversaries of legendary freedom fighters and peasant leaders Swami Sahajanand Saraswati (Founder National President of the AIKS) and Ajit Singh (uncle of Shaheed Bhagat Singh).

2. February 24 was observed as Anti-Repression Day to condemn the growing repression of the BJP central government after January 26 on farmers (122 of whom were arrested), eminent journalists, the vindictive ED raid on NewsClick, the arrest of young climate Disha Ravi and others, the arrest of young Dalit activist Nodeep Kaur and others.

3. February 26, the day when the Delhi struggle completes three months, was observed as Yuva Kisan Divas to felicitate the admirable role of peasant youth in this struggle.

4. February 27, the martyrdom anniversary of Chandrashekhar Azad and the birth anniversary of Sant Ravidas, was observed as Worker-Peasant Unity Day to underline the unity of the two basic classes that produce the wealth of our country.

The SKM also met on February 28 to review and chalk out the future course of the struggle.

AIKS press conference on MSP

On February 19, the AIKS held a press conference at the Press Club of India in New Delhi where it reiterated its demand for the repeal of the three black Farm Laws and for a law guaranteeing MSP. In its press release it also attacked the utterly false campaign on the MSP issue that was being led by PM Modi himself and, while putting the onus for enacting such a law on the central government, also suggested some important ways to make it possible. The press conference was addressed by AIKS General Secretary Hannan Mollah, President Ashok Dhawale, Joint Secretaries N K Shukla and Vijoo Krishnan and Finance Secretary P Krishna Prasad.      

Significant bail judgement in Disha Ravi case

On February 23, Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana of a Delhi Court, in a significant and courageous judgement considering the times that we live in, granted bail to the young climate activist from Bengaluru, Disha Ravi, who had been arrested 10 days ago by the notorious Delhi Police which is under the direct control of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.  Disha Ravi had bravely asserted in the Court, “If highlighting farmers’ protest globally is sedition, I am better (off) in jail.”

Some of the memorable passages from Judge Dharmender Rana’s 18-page judgement are as follows:

“Citizens are conscience keepers of government in any democratic nation. They cannot be put behind bars simply because they choose to disagree with state policies…The offence of sedition cannot be invoked to minister to the wounded vanity of government. Difference of opinion, disagreement, divergence, dissent, or for that matter, even disapprobation, are recognized legitimate tools to infuse objectivity in state policies. An aware and assertive citizenry is indisputably a sign of a healthy and vibrant democracy.

“This 5000-year old civilization of ours has never been averse to ideas from various quarters…The right to dissent is firmly enshrined under Article 19 of the Constitution of India…The freedom of speech and expression includes the right to seek a global audience…

“Creation of a WhatsApp group or being editor of an innocuous toolkit is not an offence…There is not even an iota of evidence brought to my notice connecting the perpetrators of the violence on January 26, 2021 with the said PJF (Poetic Justice Foundation) or the applicant/accused…Considering the scanty and sketchy evidence available on record, I do not find any palpable reasons to breach the general rule of ‘Bail’ against a 22 year old young lady, with absolutely blemish-free criminal antecedents and having firm roots in the society, and send her to jail.”          

India certainly needs many, many more Disha Ravis and Dharmender Ranas, and millions more citizens to openly laud their courage, to halt our march towards a fascist society.      

(The author is President, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS)

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The post BJP begins to pay a political price as farmers’ struggle completes three months appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The unprecedented Kisan struggle that began on November 26, 2020, has been the largest, the longest and the most powerful nationwide farmers’ struggle in the history of Independent India. This struggle has several distinctive features.

First, it is led by over 500 farmers’ organisations in the country, who have united under the platform of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM). All sections of the peasantry have joined together. 

Second, it has combated tremendous repression from BJP state governments in the form of teargas shells, water cannons, lathi charges, and after the government-sponsored violence in Delhi on January 26, the indiscriminate arrests of farmers, FIRs against farmer leaders, eminent journalists, arrests of climate activists, ED raids on independent news portals like NewsClick, and has overcome it all.

Third, it has faced constant defamation from the BJP-RSS and has been accused of being instigated by Khalistanis, Maoists, Naxalites, and by Pakistan and China. It has stood its ground.

Fourth, in spite of lakhs of farmers laying siege to Delhi for over 90 days and nights, it has been completely peaceful and democratic. Over 250 farmers have been martyred in this struggle so far. It has also victoriously combated the criminal conspiracy of violence unleashed by the BJP central government, its police and its agent provocateurs on January 26, Republic Day.

Fifth, it has been entirely secular. The farmers in struggle all over India belong to all religions, all castes and speak all Indian languages. This has made it more difficult to suppress the struggle.

Sixth, after the unprecedented success of the Bharat Bandh on December 8, with great support from the working class and all other sections of society, it is becoming a people’s struggle.

Seventh, and most important, this struggle has directly identified and attacked the corrupt nexus between the BJP-RSS-led central government and the Indian and foreign corporate lobby, symbolised by Ambani and Adani. For the first time, a nationwide call has been given for the boycott of Ambani and Adani products and services. Through its three major demands, this historic class struggle of the peasantry has squarely attacked the neoliberal policies themselves.       

Repeal of pro-corporate Farm Acts

The first demand is the repeal of the three anti-farmer, anti-people and pro-corporate Farm Acts which were passed through Parliament after trampling on all democratic norms. No Kisan organisation worth its name had demanded any of these laws, and no Kisan organisation was ever consulted before these laws were first promulgated as ordinances in June 2020. Although agriculture is a state subject under the Constitution, no state government was ever consulted. The same method was used to annul 29 labour laws that had been won by the working class after bitter struggles and to ram through four anti-worker Labour Codes through Parliament.

The first Farm Act aims to dismantle APMCs and hand over the entire trade in agricultural produce to domestic and foreign corporates. This will destroy farmers and agriculture, and will also compromise the food security of the country. The Bihar state government under Nitish Kumar dismantled APMCs in 2006. As a result, farmers in Bihar are getting around Rs 800 to 1000 less per quintal of paddy than the MSP which is Rs 1,878. This Act eventually aims to do away with MSP and government procurement of food grains altogether. With this, the entire public distribution system will be dismantled. This will hit millions of both urban and rural poor.  

The second Farm Act aims to encourage and promote contract farming across the country. As our previous experience of contract farming in India and the world shows, this will only help the powerful corporate companies to loot the farmers. In a travesty of justice, there is no provision for farmers for approaching courts in case of any dispute. The real alternative to corporate farming is co-operative farming, which the government is not at all willing to consider.

The third Farm Act is a disastrous amendment to the Essential Commodities Act. The central government has removed all restrictions on stocks of seven most essential items, viz. rice, wheat, pulses, cooking oil, onions and potatoes. This will give the corporates and the big traders a free hand to hoard and black market these essential items and will hike their prices manifold. This will also endanger food security. In the Global Hunger Index figures declared recently, India already ranks 94th among 107 countries. This will aggravate even further.

Legal guarantee of MSP and procurement

The second demand is for a law to guarantee MSP and procurement of all agricultural produce at one and a half times the comprehensive cost of production (C2 + 50%), as recommended by the National Commission on Farmers, headed by Dr M S Swaminathan. The Modi regime is uttering a white lie when it claims that it has already implemented MSP at this rate. It has applied the formula A2 + FL, which is much lower than C2 + 50%, and has thus tried to deceive farmers.

Moreover, in most parts of our country, the MSP declared by the central government for 23 different crops has no meaning, simply because there is no government procurement in most of the states. Hence traders routinely buy agricultural produce from farmers at much less than the MSP. Even in Punjab and Haryana, government procurement is restricted mainly to only paddy and wheat. Hence this is a key demand of farmers from all over the country.

Successive central governments implementing neo liberal policies have increased the cost of production in agriculture manifold over the last three decades. One, by slashing subsidies on agricultural inputs like fertilisers. Two, by encouraging rapacious corporates in the manufacture of seeds, fertilisers and insecticides. Three, by greatly increasing the price of diesel, petrol, power and irrigation. However, the price that the farmer gets for his crop has never increased in the same proportion. This is the root of the agrarian crisis and massive peasant indebtedness, leading to farmer suicides on the one hand and distress sales of farm land on the other.  

This is further aggravated by natural calamities like severe droughts, floods, hailstorms and unseasonal rains, with no proper crop insurance cover. The PM Fasal Bima Yojana has proved to be a farce, enriching corporate insurance companies at the expense of farmers. With huge amounts of credit being channelised to the corporates, there is a credit crunch in the farm sector, especially for small and middle farmers. The agricultural import-export policies adopted under WTO dictates and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have also hit farmers very hard.

It is for all these reasons that the farmers struggle has demanded a law to guarantee MSP and procurement at one and a half times the cost of production. Another related demand of the peasant movement has been a complete loan waiver to the peasantry by the central government, which has no compunctions in granting loan waivers and tax waivers of lakhs of crores of rupees per year to its handful of favourite crony corporates.   

The third demand is the withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020, which shamelessly promotes further privatisation of power and aims to end the cross subsidy. This will lead to a massive hike in power bills not only for irrigation pumps of farmers, but also for domestic use in both rural and urban areas throughout the country. This will hit all sections of working people.

Savage attack of crony capitalist (neo-liberal) policies

The neo-liberal policies in our country, and in agriculture in particular, were begun by the Congress central government in 1991 and have been taken forward exponentially by the current Modi-led BJP regime.

The 27th national conference of the AIKS held at Hisar in 1992 was the first that was held after the beginning of the neo-liberal policies. It tore apart the neo-liberal policies and warned, “The present policies of the Union government will have a serious adverse impact on the peasantry. This will speed up pauperisation of the poor, the small and middle peasants. The number of unemployed youth, both in the urban and the rural sides will again rise to unprecedented heights.” The seminal presidential address of Harkishan Singh Surjeet at this conference elaborated on these and other aspects further. Significantly, the AIKS made this assessment of the neo-liberal policies within a year, when almost all other peasant organisations were supporting the new economic and agricultural policies. The warnings of the Hisar conference have been more than vindicated by agrarian developments over the last 30 years.

‘The Alternative Agricultural Policy’ document adopted by the AIKS and the AIAWU in December 2003 broadly divided the post-independence period of capitalist development in agriculture into two phases – the state-sponsored phase from 1947 to 1990 and the liberalisation-privatisation-globalisation (LPG) phase from 1991 onwards. In the light of this, it outlined the two main rural contradictions as follows:

“From the above analysis, it is clear that the present situation in Indian agriculture is characterised by two important contradictions. The first is the sharp division between the rural rich, comprising landlords, big capitalist farmers, large traders, money-lenders and their allies on the one hand and the mass of the peasantry, comprising agricultural workers, poor and middle peasants and rural artisans on the other. The second is the growing opposition to imperialist-driven LPG policies of the government, not only from the mass of the peasantry but also from sections of the rural rich.”

Worst culprit: BJP-RSS’ Modi regime

While the first contradiction is and will continue to be very relevant, it is the second contradiction that has been consistently emerged at the forefront in the last three decades, more sharply in the last seven years of the Modi-led BJP-RSS regime. The last few years have seen a steady strengthening of peasant resistance against the neoliberal assault on their livelihoods by the Modi government. As agrarian distress intensified because of its policies, farmers and rural workers began to strongly raise their voices against them.

Most of these protests by farmers in the recent years –  the nationwide peasant struggle in 2015 against the Land Acquisition Ordinance led by the Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan (BAA), a joint platform that was initiated by the AIKS; the AIKS-led Kisan struggle of Rajasthan in 2017-18 for loan waiver and MSP: the 11-day united Farmers’ Strike in Maharashtra in June 2017 and the AIKS-led Kisan Long March in Maharashtra in March 2018, both of which succeeded in wresting a large loan waiver package from the BJP state government and also some progress in the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA); the AIKSCC-led Kisan Mukti Sansad in Delhi in November 2017; the CITU-AIKS-AIAWU-led Mazdoor Kisan Rally in New Delhi in September 2018; and the AIKSCC-led Kisan Mukti March in Delhi in November 2018 – were dominated by poor and middle sections of the peasantry and by rural workers as their livelihoods were threatened the most. The participation of rich peasants in these protests was moderate, at best.

Over the years, two demands – implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendation of guarantee of MSP and procurement at one and a half times the entire cost of production (C2 + 50%) and freedom from debt for farmers – became the main focus of the demands of the peasantry. The current nationwide farmers’ struggle represents the climax of all these earlier peasant struggles.         

The current farmers’ struggle realises that the BJP central government led by Narendra Modi has been the worst culprit in intensifying neo-liberal policies in agriculture, industry and all other sectors. BJP-led state governments have followed suit.

An unprecedented Agrarian crisis

The agrarian crisis in India has reached extremely serious proportions due to the neo liberal policies of the last three decades. As per the figures of the National Crime Records Bureau under the Union Home Ministry, nearly four lakh farmers in India have been forced to commit suicide due to indebtedness in the last 25 years from 1995 to 2020. Lakhs of children of Adivasi, Dalit and backward families in our country die every year due to starvation and malnutrition.

Profit maximisation is being sought by squeezing the peasantry through neo-liberal agricultural policies. It is precisely these policies that are fuelling the catastrophic phenomenon of lakhs of suicides of debt-ridden peasants. Slashing of subsidies and an open door to rapacious MNCs and corporates in the production of agricultural inputs leading to massive increase in the cost of production; consistent refusal to give remunerative prices for agricultural produce under pressure of foreign finance capital; a glut in agricultural imports and a slew of free trade agreements that further ruin the peasantry; crunch in formal agricultural credit and siphoning it away to the corporates, this leading to increased dependence of farmers on usurious private moneylenders; a series of natural calamities like drought, floods, hailstorms as well as attacks by pests and by wild animals and a bogus crop insurance scheme designed to benefit not farmers but corporate insurance companies; savage cuts in public investment in agriculture, especially on irrigation and power with a thrust towards their privatisation – these are some of the main aspects of the neo-liberal attacks on agriculture that are responsible for the deepening agrarian crisis, rising indebtedness and alarming peasant suicides and landlessness.

Class implications of this struggle

With the enactment of the three Farm Laws in 2020, the Modi government has opened a battle front in which all sections of the peasantry face a crisis. This has enthused all sections of the peasantry to join the struggle, and even sections of rich peasants have joined the struggle in considerable force. Kisans have been protesting against these laws since June 2020 itself, when the three ordinances were first promulgated. The struggle intensified with the ramming through of the laws in Parliament in September and reached its pitch with the Delhi siege from November 26, 2020. Over the last nine months, innumerable protests – with the participation of millions of farmers – have taken place across the country against these ordinances and laws.

But it would be entirely wrong, as the BJP-RSS rumour mill has been churning out, to characterise the present phase of the Kisan struggle as a struggle of the large farmers, or as a struggle of the Punjab and Haryana famers alone. The protests against these farm laws must be seen as a continuation of the Kisan protests over the last six years, enumerated above. While poorer sections of the peasantry, who have been hit the hardest by the policies of the Modi government, have led the struggle thus far, enactment of these farm laws has enthused middle and large farmers to also join the struggle in bigger numbers. This has resulted in a consolidation of the class alliance of all sections of the peasantry against this government.

Similarly, the fact that the borders of Delhi are dominated by farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Western UP can hardly be interpreted to mean that only farmers from these states are unhappy with the three laws. It is obvious that the proximity of these states to Delhi meant that the farmers of these states had to take the lead in the battle on the borders of Delhi. It is noteworthy that, even in the protests on the borders of Delhi, farmers from every state have participated. Farmers from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and from as far as Odisha, Andhra and Kerala, have been participating at the Shahajahanpur and Palwal borders. This is apart from the lakhs of farmers who are enthusiastically participating in all the struggle calls of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) in almost all states of the country.

So far as the class aspects of this struggle are concerned, let us consider some hard facts. As per the latest Agricultural Census (2015-16), 86.2 per cent of the cultivators in India have less than 2 hectares (5 acres) of land. The estimate from the 2012-13 NSS Survey of Land and Livestock Holdings is also similar, at 90 per cent. The average size of land holdings in rural India, as per the Agricultural Census of 2015-16, was only 1.08 hectares.

According to the same data source, the share of the number of marginal holdings (i.e., less than 1 hectare) in the total number of operational holdings increased from 62.9 per cent in 2000-01 to 68.5 per cent in 2015-16. The share of small holdings (1 hectare to 2 hectares) decreased from 18.9 per cent to 17.7 per cent during this period. Hence, if we add marginal and small holdings, we see that 86.2 per cent of the holdings were either marginal or small. Large holdings (above 4 hectares) decreased from 6.5 per cent to 4.3 percent between 2000-01 and 2015-16.

The above figures were for the number of holdings. Let us now come to the area under holdings. The area operated by the marginal and small farmers increased from 38.9 per cent in 2000-01 to 47.4 per cent in 2015-16, while the area operated by large holdings decreased from 37.2 per cent to 20 per cent during this period.

The average monthly income of an agricultural household in India in 2012-13 (according to the Situation Assessment Survey of the NSSO, 70th round) was only Rs 6426. If we consider this for across land size classes, the average monthly income of an agricultural household was Rs 5247 for those with 0.41 to 1 hectare, it was Rs 7348 for those between 1 and 2 hectares. The average monthly income was Rs 19,637 where land size was between 4 and 10 hectares and Rs 41,388 where land size exceeded 10 hectares.

The average monthly income of an agricultural household in Punjab was Rs 18,059, in Haryana it was Rs 14,434, in UP it was Rs 4,923. On a per capita basis, this comes to be only Rs 3450 in Punjab, Rs 2450 in Haryana and Rs 863 in UP. In most other states, it is even less. 

This was the stark reality of the state of farmers in India in 2012-13. Now 8 more years have passed. There has been no NSSO survey in this period. But with the aggressive neo-liberal onslaught of the Modi-led BJP central government that came to power in 2014, and the Covid pandemic in 2020-21, it is crystal clear that the situation of farmers has further deteriorated.

The above facts and figures also clearly imply that a large majority of those who are participating in the current farmers struggle throughout the country come from the 86 per cent whose land holdings are less than 2 hectares. They are the ones who are the hardest hit. The present anti-corporate, issue-based struggle for the repeal of the three Farm Laws and for a law to guarantee a remunerative MSP and procurement, is strengthened by the entry of sections of the rich peasantry. This is a welcome development in the direction of larger peasant unity.

However, as AIKS has consistently emphasised in its documents and reports, we must realize that the class struggle in the rural areas does not come to an end with the current farmers’ struggle. If this struggle is a success, we would still need to return to our core class issues for our movement to grow. The issues of land, wages, implementation of MNREGA, PDS, FRA 2006, and of course the whole gamut of issues related to caste and gender will remain. Both the contradictions explained in the AIKS/AIAWU Alternative Agricultural Policy 2003 and mentioned above will have to be dealt with and fought against together.    

True significance of the current farmers’ struggle

The nakedly pro-corporate policies of the Modi-led BJP government, which are aimed at selling off the whole country under cover of the hypocritical slogan of ‘atmanirbharata’ are making things much worse. There is almost no sector in India which the Modi regime has not put up for privatisation and sale to Indian and foreign corporates – be it railways, airlines, airports, ports, mines, telecom, public sector, banks, insurance, irrigation, power, education, health, and even defence. Now it is agriculture and land which is on its hit list. And this is being bitterly opposed.    

The true significance of the ongoing historic farmers’ struggle throughout the country is that it strikes squarely at the disastrous, anti-national, neo-liberal policies of the BJP-RSS regime, which has always acted as the most servile agent of the corporate and imperialist lobby, right from the days of our glorious freedom struggle. It is a patriotic struggle waged by millions of farmers not only for themselves, but also in defence of the people and of the entire country, in defence of our sovereignty, democracy, secularism, federalism and our Constitution itself.

The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) is an integral and important part of the united leadership of this historic farmers’ struggle. It appeals to all peasants, agricultural labourers, workers, employees, women, youth and students all over the country to strengthen this crucial class struggle in all possible ways, until victory is achieved.     

(The author is President, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS)

(February 22, 2021)

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