‘Andolan gave India freedom’: Farm unions slam PM’S speech
The daily life of Muhammed Naeem Khan
NEW DELHI: Protesters camped at the Capital’s borders against three new farm laws reiterated their demand that Minimum Support Prices (MSP) be legally guaranteed, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the Rajya Sabha, sought to assure farmers that the procurement regime would continue to exist, and urged them to call off their agitation and continue discussions.
Responding to the debate on the motion of thanks on the President’s address in the Rajya Sabha, Modi on Monday also spoke of people he termed “aandolanjeevis” (those who live off protests) and warned against the alleged influence of FDI (“foreign destructive ideology”)
Farmer leaders condemned Modi’s statements, calling it an “insult of farmers”, and said they are ready for fresh talks, but with the condition that the “prime minister holds the meeting with the farmers”.
“Farmers of this country respect the Constitution, the elected government and the PM’S rank and dignity. If the PM wants the next round of talks, we are ready for it. But we urge the PM that he should hold the meeting with us, understand the concerns of the farmers, and end this deadlock. Multiple rounds of meetings with the Union agriculture minister have yielded no results so far,” said Satnam Singh Sahni, general secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Doaba group), at the Singhu border.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Modi said the farm laws should be given a chance, while reiterating that MSP will continue and doubling down on the government’s commitment to modernise agricultural markets. “MSP was there. MSP is there. MSP will remain in the future,” the PM said.
However, protesters and prominent farm leaders were unmoved by the assurances and demanded that the government ensure legal provisions to “protect farmers from businesspersons.”
BKU (Tikait) faction national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait, who has been leading the farmers’ agitation at Ghazipur border, said: “There are no laws now, so businesspersons loot farmers. Authorities have tried to taint the movement by various means. The movement is not led by political leaders, but farmers who demand the repeal of these laws. There will be no business over hunger, and this is what we are fighting against.”
A farmer from Punjab’s Moga, Sadhu Singh said: “Nobody knowingly consumes poison. When we know that the new farm laws are poisonous, why is Modi ji asking us to consume it. We (farmers) know what is good for us and we are fighting for our rights. We will leave only when the laws are repealed”
On Monday evening, Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of the 40 farmers’ unions, issued a press statement, condemning the Prime Minister’s “aandolanjeevi” remark.
“SKM condemns the insulting of farmers by prime minister. Farmers would like to remind the PM that it is andolans that have liberated India from colonial rulers, which is why we are proud to be aandolanjeevi,” the statement read.
“The PM’S FDI approach is dangerous too, even as we distance ourselves from any Foreign Destructive Ideology,” the statement continued.
“SKM stands with constructive democratic processes, which uphold basic human rights anywhere in the world and expects similar reciprocation from all likeminded citizens all over the world because “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” the farmer group said in their statement.
Avtar Singh, another farmer leader from Uttarakhand camping at the Ghazipur border, said, “We had voted for this government for ‘acche din’ and jobs. But we got these laws in return. There was no need to pass these laws during the pandemic with no consultation and we will continue the agitation till the laws are repealed.”
Extra cops deployed at borders withdrawn
The additional deployment of Delhi Police personnel at the three borders points of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, where farmers are camping for over two months to protest against the three farm laws,was withdrawn from Monday evening. The security arrangements in these places will now be taken care of by personnel belonging to the police districts concerned, senior police officers privy to the development said.
Hundreds of personnel from various Delhi Police units such as crime, police control room (PCR), railways, vigilance, economic offences wing (EOW), licensing, headquarters, and police training college (PTC), were mobilised to the three borders points on security duty during the farmers’ tractor rally on January 26 and the chakka jam call on February 6.
On Monday, special commissioner of police (operations and licensing) Muktesh Chandra issued a message, referred to as TPM, to all the units and their heads regarding the withdrawal of the internal mobilisation done for the farmers’ rally and law and order duty.
The entire staff have been told to return to their respective units from Tuesday.
“The available resources in the districts concerned will now be used to maintain law and order and security at the farmers’ agitation sites. They will be assisted by personnel from the paramilitary forces,” said a senior police officer, who did not want to be named.
Deputy commissioner of police (outer-north) Rajeev Ranjan said, “The situation at the Singhu border is under control and peaceful. We have adequate force deployed round-the-clock at the border, near the protest site to deal with any contingency.”
His face exudes immense calm, and sitting beside him is somewhat relaxing. He has the vibes of a fakir, an ascetic, which is nothing surprising when you know that he spends his days sitting in one of the courtyards of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s sufi shrine, in central Delhi.
“I’ve been a khidmatgar in the dargah for decades,” says Muhammed Naeem Khan, referring to himself as a server of the shrine. It is a pleasantly cool evening. The worst part of winter is gone. The brilliantly blue sky has receded into hues of darkness. Mr Khan is sitting by a grave, alone. The shrine houses the grave of the aforementioned mystic as well as of other historical figures, famous and obscure, including a Mughal emperor.
Lighting up a beedi, Mr Khan recalls his past— “when we were seven brothers and three sisters... now we are two brothers and two sisters.” In his 60s, he says that his father was from Amroha in UP, and worked in Delhi as a cook in the bungalow of a certain “Mr Kelly”, who lived in what was
CAPITAL
then known as Aurangzeb Road. “Father lived here in the ‘basti’, and cycled to work every day”— by basti, he means the village surrounding this shrine.
Pondering on how he ended as a shrine server, or khidmatgar, Mr Khan confesses that he had no idea that this is what he would become. The circumstances pushed him in this direction. “Father died when I was in the 10th standard.” The loss forced him and his brothers to immediately launch into an active working life, and to give up all hopes of education. Mr Khan worked for many years in a local meat shop, but later, when his six sons began earning for themselves, he gave up his job and started spending more time in the shrine—his home is very close. He would take care of select visitors, and receive token money from the shrine’s caretakers for his services. “This money is important... my children are very caring but I don’t want to depend on them,” he says in a voice so full of kindness that it feels like being offered a piece of blanket in the sharpest cold.
But it’s almost seven in the evening, and Mr Khan arrived in the dargah some 12 hours ago. He shall now walk back home, a few lanes away, to wife, Aamna Khatoon.