When the Simon Commission entered Lahore in 1928, members were overwhelmed by the united strength of protesters waving black flags, yelling “Simon Go Back!” The same spirit of revolution reigned victorious on November 19, 2021 when the BJP-led central government finally conceded that “the three farm laws will be repealed.”
With a year’s worth of mass mobilisations, India’s farmers have lived up to India’s democratic history while uniting the whole peasantry into a single nationwide struggle against an oppressive and proto-fascist regime.
Looking back, too many developments occurred to be satisfactorily summarised in writing. Thus, SabrangIndia presents a more visual depiction of one year of the farmers’ protest in the following maps that show how protests persevered through all seasons and evolved into various forms of agitations such as Mahapanchayats and homages.
The last map also shows the growing violent aggression against this peaceful protest.
From repeated allegations of Khalistani involvement to the regime’s gaslighting the nation that this was just a protest of Punjab and Haryana farmers; India’s annadaatas persevered through it all. However, as farmer leaders told Prime Minister Narendra Modi in writing, the struggle will not end until the rest of their demands are met.
These as yet unresolved demands are:
1. A legal guarantee to Minimum Support Price (MSP) based on (C2+50 percent production)
2. Withdrawal of the draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 that is listed for legislative business in the Parliament’s winter session
3. Removal of penal provisions on farmers in the ‘Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act 2021’
4. Dismissal of the hundreds of FIRs implicating thousands of farmers in the past year
5. Suspension and arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, the alleged mastermind of the Lakhimpur Kheri killings
6. Compensation and rehabilitation for families of the near-700 farmers who were martyred in the struggle
On July 28, farmer leaders also voiced the concerns of fisher unions against the Indian Maritime Fisheries Bill 2021. Fisherfolk unions have been voicing their apprehensions and concerns about this Bill and farmers group Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) voiced its solidarity in their objections.
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Re-Plug: 28 protests in 22 days! Kranti ka Naqsha (Mapping the Revolution) brings the latest updates