Fear of losing land kept them going

Blurb: Say Delhi March was another turning point in agitation

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 19

The fear of losing land that came with the three farm laws proved a turning point in making the farmers’ agitation a true people’s movement in Punjab.

“The corporates will snatch your land one day, we had been trying to tell people for the past three decades,” recounts Shingara Singh Mann, state committee member of BKU (Ugrahan).

The Centre pushed the three bills on June 5 and in the evening, Darshan Pal of Krantikari Kisan Union and Jagmohan Singh of BKU (Dakunda) organised a zoom meeting from Patiala with other constituents of All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) and called for burning effigies of the Modi government — the first action against the laws.

Meanwhile, BKU (Ugrahan), one of the biggest farmer organisations, was also worried about the ordinances but was not part of the AIKSCC. On June 13, they called an emergency meeting in Moga and decided to make villages the centre of the struggle.

Mann said they had a choice between dying of Covid and fighting the government for their right. “We chose the latter,” he said, adding that soon the movement spread to around 1,000 villages.

It was followed by giving memoranda to SDMs, DCs and the President. On June 30, protests were held in front of the SDM and DC offices across the state and tractor marches were taken out in July and August and entry of SAD-BJP leaders was banned in villages.

After 10,000 people, who were later joined by 35,000 others, sat on a protest at Badal village, the SAD broke its alliance with the BJP and Harsimrat Kaur Badal quit as the Union Minister. “It infused a new life into the movement,” Mann said.

“When we realised that it is not easy to defeat the government alone, we invited Rajewal, Ugrahan and other organisations for a joint meeting in Moga on September 23 and the 32 farmer organisations’ umbrella platform came into existence,” said Jagmohan Singh.

“The march to Delhi on November 26-27 will now be known as the true long march,” said Rajinder Singh Deep Singhwala of Kirti Kisan Union.