How Mandsaur farmer stir was run on WhatsApp
MANDSAUR: “Attention, attention…We have not struck any compromise with the government,” read a WhatsApp message circulating among Madhya Pradesh’s farmers in the first week of June. “There is nothing to compromise on...our demands are clear.”
Days later, on June 6, western MP exploded. Five farmers were killed in Mandsaur in police firing while one of the injured died on Friday. Violent protests have erupted in other districts of the state. The ruling BJP and chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan have accused the opposition of orchestrating the violence. But the unrest roiling the region is the work of young, tech-savvy farmers coordinating their actions over WhatsApp groups.
“We have no leaders. Leaders can be intimidated or compromised,” said a farmer who participated in the unrest. “No one tells us, ‘do this’. Our friends only say ‘We are doing this’, and we decide if we want to participate.”
The implications of this were evident in MP where farmers separated by thousands of kilometres received messages announcing a protest from June 1. Several unions joined once the agitation began, but when the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Bharat Kisan Sangh, and a smaller group called the Kisan Sena, struck a compromise deal with the government, the movement gathered steam. “Who is the Kisan Sena to strike a compromise on behalf of MP’s farmers?” asked another WhatsApp message.