Three-year struggle has achieved nothing so far, say protesters

Three years after the farmers’ struggle of 2020-21 at the borders of Delhi ended, farmers in Punjab are convinced that the rollback of the three farm laws by the BJP-led Centre was just a tactical retreat, while the crisis in the agriculture sector continues to loom large.

As the 100 member jatha of farmers, who attempted to march on foot towards Delhi from Shambhu border today, faced tear gas shells, farmers in Punjab have been reminiscing about the year-long protest and are assessing what all they achieved after the historic struggle, if at all.

As they grapple with climate change impacting their agriculture practices and increasing rural indebtedness, farmers agree that other than forcing the Centre to roll back the three farm laws - Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, none of the other promises made to the farmers — including a legal guarantee for giving Minimum Support Price — have been fulfilled.

“On the other hand, the funds for upgrade of rural and mandi infrastructure (Rs 8,000 crore) have been held back by the Centre. There has been a cutting down on essential fertilisers di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and urea. And, the paddy procurement was tardy this year. Though the Central government leaders insist that they are unbiased, these problems faced by farmers speak otherwise,” Kulwant Singh, a farmer from Kishangarh in Mansa district told The Tribune.

Since the 2020-21 protest ended, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha split, with many factions emerging from the group. They are now split into SKM and SKM (Non-political). Most of the big farmer unions, including BKU Ekta Ugrahan and BKU Dakaunda, have suffered vertical splits. Though the SKM formed a six-member committee earlier this year and made efforts to unite all unions once again to lead the farmers struggle 2.0, it never succeeded.

Balbir Singh Rajewal, one of the prominent leaders to lead the 2020-21 farmers protest, rued that the gains of the struggle seem to have been wasted in wake of unions’ unwillingness to join forces. “We condemn the action against farmers at Shambhu today, but to achieve demands, there have to be coordinated efforts by all unions,” he said.