Farmers call the peasant struggle a national patriotic movement

Farmers’ organisations once again reported massive people’s participation across India on December 14, 2020 in support of the farmers’ struggle for repeal of the three Farm Acts and the Electricity Bill 2020.

The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) said in a press release, “This is developing into a national patriotic movement to save farmers from corporate exploitation and a government hell bent on attacking our livelihood. No national policy or change that causes harm to its farmers, more than 50 percent of the population, can be termed as patriotic.”

The Working Group of the organisation received reports of district level protests in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana.

Progressive organisations held a solidarity event in Delhi’s Shaheed Park. Hundreds of Delhi’s citizens attended the vent to lend their support to the ongoing farmers’ struggle.

Lakhs of people gathered in total participation of the district level protests in over 60 percent of the country’s total districts.

AIKSCC group in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district sent a letter requesting the repeal of the three laws – the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance & Farm Services Act, the Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act – to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Earlier, Maharashtra MLA and former member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Nana Patole wrote a letter to Modi acknowledging the validity of the farmers’ movement and demanded that the Union government listen to farmers’ grievances.

Farmers’ leaders at Delhi border observed a one-day fast from 8AM to 5PM while the district-level dharna continued. The leaders on-stage remembered the20 and more farmers who lost their lives at Delhi borders in the last 18 days.

Meanwhile, farmers Rajasthan and Haryana who were stopped at the Rajasthan-Haryana border on December 13 continued their protests near Shahjahanpur by blocking the Jaipur-Delhi national highway.

In Uttar Pradesh, police arrested local leaders and protesters in a bid to prevent farmers from protesting. Nonetheless, The All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP) observed dharnas at Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh and Dehradun in Uttarakhand on Monday.

The AIKSCC in a statement said, “The Acts clearly say the government will promote and legally allow corporate and giant multinationals to establish their mandis and compel farmers in contract farming as well as erode food price security. If implemented all government facilities and infrastructure available to farmers such as the MSP, the limited Govt procurement, the limited supply of subsidised fertilisers and irrigation, market yards, FCI storehouses (already functioning under stress and debts) will get sold to these very corporates for a song. The corporate control over food production and supply, processing and marketing, will spell doom for the Indian poor.”

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