Farm agitation swells after surge in Jatland
Maha Panchayat vows support after visuals of tearful farm leader Tikait stir emotions in western UP; crowds bulge at protest sites
NEW DELHI/MEERUT: Thousands of farmers poured into Ghazipur on the eastern fringes of Delhi on Friday after an emotional appeal for support by farm leader Rakesh Tikait, indicating that the government crackdown on the two-month-old agitation following violence on Republic Day may have partially backfired.
Farmers from 10 districts in western UP, a stronghold of the influential Jat community, congregated at a massive gathering in Muzaffarnagar, where they announced the social boycott of anyone not backing the movement. In Haryana, khaps, or clan-based bodies, vowed to send at least one person from each family to bolster the ongoing stir against three agriculture laws passed in September.
Throughout the night, cultivators took tractors, trucks and motorbikes to reach the Delhi border, where numbers swelled and morale mounted with the arrival of a new contingent of protesters determined to defend the honour of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Tikait.
While just about a thousand
farmers had gathered at Ghazipur on Thursday, the number swelled around 10,000 on Friday.
“If the police use force on us for not leaving, it is not a problem. But if some political organisations attempt to trouble us, that is unacceptable...Now, I will not surrender (to the police), we’ll continue to protest here,” Tikait told the gathering.
It was a dramatic reversal from Thursday afternoon, when dwindling numbers, bitter public fallout of violence by farmers at the Republic Day tractor rally, and increasing police presence, left the protesters demoralised.
The Ghaziabad administration served Tikait, son of legendary farm leader Mahendra Singh Tikait, with an ultimatum to vacate the site or face penal consequences, part of a wider crackdown on the agitation since January 26. Farmers also said that the authorities cut off their water and power supply to the site.
But instead of caving in, Tikait broke down in front of television cameras and vowed to not leave the site until the government repealed the laws. “If the farm laws are not repealed, Rakesh Tikait will commit suicide,” he had said, biting back tears.
These visuals were beamed on television channels and went viral on social media, triggering calls for mobilisation from temples, mosques and panchayats across western UP throughout the night. Tikait’s resolve to not drink water unless it was brought from his village in particular touched a chord with the people, who carried water in bottles and pouches from their homes in the heartland to the Capital’s edge.
Prabhjeet Singh, a farmer from Muzaffarnagar who returned to Ghazipur a day after he left for his home, said, “We couldn’t leave him (Tikait) to battle it alone when he needed us the most”
By morning, the agitation seemed to have regained some of the momentum it lost when on Republic Day, farmer groups broke through barricades, clashed violently with police, ran riot on the Capital’s streets, and stormed the Red Fort, hoisting the Nishan Sahib, the flag of the Sikhs, on its ramparts.
The violence and vandalisation were widely condemned and sparked statements of remorse and anguish from farm groups across north India, even as unions leading the stir blamed fringe elements, a government “conspiracy”, and Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu for stoking passions.
The improvement in morale was visible in the principal protest site at the Singhu border despite violence by a mob of around 200 people earlier in the day. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body leading the stir, said farmers will hold a oneday hunger strike to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary on January 30.
“Today, we just saw farmers arriving in Ghazipur. In a couple of days, more protesters will arrive at Tikri, Singhu, and Shahjahanpur border from Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan,” said Darshan Pal, president of Krantikari Kisan Union Punjab.
Ghazipur is the smallest of the three protest sites — after Singhu and Tikri on the Capital’s northwestern and western borders respectively — where farmers have camped since November.
But on Friday, it was the focal point of the agitation as politicians, journalists, ordinary people made a beeline to meet Tikait, and union leaders scrambled to put up more tents, and set up community kitchens for the incoming crowds.
Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia met Tikait and extended unconditional support on behalf of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. “It is in such tough times that one aandolankari (protesters) come to help other aandolankari (protesters),” Tikait responded.
Other politicians to visit were Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chaudhary, UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, and Congress leader Deepinder Singh Hooda. Opposition politicians across the country also extended their support.
“I want to tell the farmers, don’t retract even by an inch. These laws will give a shock to middle class too, as food prices will skyrocket. The only solution is to repeal these laws,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said.
In Haryana, khaps held meetings across the state and decided to send members to the farmer protests, and socially boycott leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party (JJP). Haryana is governed by a BJP-JJP coalition. The move came even as the Haryana government suspended mobile internet in 17 districts.
In Muzaffarnagar, Tikait’s brother Naresh Tikait organised a show of strength attended by tens of thousands of farmers. “The ongoing movement is a battle for the honour of farmers and, if it ends, it will damage our very existence,” said Naresh Tikait after the seven-hour mahapanchayat.
In the face of increased mobilisation, police retreated from the Ghazipur site even as UP additional director general of police (ADG), law and order, Prashant Kumar said they were in touch with farmer leaders to find an amicable solution through talks.