Farmers leaders dismiss false claims of the central government

The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) Working Group said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims of development are hollow and fake and designed to favour corporate growth.

“As is proven by the three farm Acts forced on farmers, Modi’s claims at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on December 22, 2020 are not in harmony with the ground reality,” said the AIKSCC press release.

Accordingly, a large number of farmers in Gujarat decided to hold protest programs on December 25 to expose Modi’s and Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s misgovernance. Farmers leaders said that farm suicides have continued unabated due to huge debts and deprivation of land. Analysis of 2011 National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data shows that in 10 years 3.55 lakh farmers went missing in the state while the number of agriculture workers increased by 17 lakhs.

“This was mainly due to promotion of export-oriented contract farming by the then Modi government. During the BJP rule, water from the Narmada dam and Sabarmati River WaterFront too has been diverted from agriculture to industry, leaving farmers struggling to irrigate their land every year,” they said.

Further, they dismissed Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s claim that farmers will not lose their land under contract farming as a big lie. The new law says in Section 9 that the farmer can obtain expenses through separate debt deeds signed with financial institutions meaning that land and property will be mortgaged. Section 14.2 also states that all advances obtained by the farmer from the company will be recovered ‘as arrears of land revenue.’

To demonstrate their continued opposition to 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, leaders asked farmers and supporters to skip one meal on the birthday of former Prime Minister and farmer leader Charan Singh on December 23, Kisan Diwas.

They also promised to intensify the boycott of products sold by companies owned by Ambani and Adani. Moreover, the AIKSCC condemned the crackdown on travelling protesters by the Madhya Pradesh police in Bhopal on December 22.

“AIKSCC has warned of intense struggle all over India against such high-handedness of BJP governments. Yesterday, the Uttar Pradesh and Delhi police faced reaction from farmers who were stopped in UP from travelling to Ghazipur,” they said.

The organisation stated that many such large arrivals from Western UP, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka would join farmers at various protest points.