The air was pierced by slogans like 'Ajay Teni ko jail ho (Ajay Teni should be in jail)', ‘Mazdoor kisan ekta zindabad’ and ‘Modi, Yogi murdabad’ at Lucknow’s Eco Garden as the Kisan Mahapanchayat got under way on Monday.
More than 1 lakh farmers, from different states, thronged Uttar Pradesh’s capital to attend the meeting, which was not called off even after the announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the three new farm laws will be repealed. Langars run by the gurudwaras quietly churned out meals for the enthusiastic attendees.
Speaker after speaker reiterated that the farmers' agitation was not over. In the first big demonstration of this determination, farmers will turn up at the borders of their districts throughout the country on November 26, the anniversary of the start of the agitation.
Hannan Mollah, CPI(M) leader, said that, if need be, 7,000 sacrifices will be made (700 farmers have so far lost their lives in the agitation). “The BJP’s heart has not changed,” said Mollah.
Multiple speakers from Punjab said that they had been asked whether their agitation would end now that the prime minister had announced a repeal of the laws. Yet they would not stop till every farmer in the country was assured a minimum support price just like they were getting in Punjab and Haryana.
Jagdeev Singh Dalewal, a farmer leader from Punjab, said, “We will not leave this midway. If we were to go back today, what would we answer when our families ask? what new did you get? We will get MSP for every farmer of this country.”
Dalewal said that in an earlier meeting with the Centre, Piyush Goyal, minister of food and public distribution, had taunted the farmers by telling them that despite their protests the BJP had won the elections in Bihar. “We said 'Fine, you do not understand the language of agitation; we will speak to you in a language you understand'. The election results in West Bengal were our response.”
Yogendra Yadav said the impending repeal of the farm laws was like “Modiji taking back a gift that he wanted to give the farmers but one which the farmers did not want.”
“Now that he has taken back his gift, he needs to give the farmers the gift that they want,” said Yadav. He added that the election results in West Bengal were a ‘small dose’ for the ‘sick’ Central government, but now a ‘strong dose’ needs to be given in the form of election results in Uttar Pradesh that would result in the BJP's defeat.
On November 21, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha—the umbrella farmers' body under which over 50 organisations are fighting on farm issues—wrote a letter of demands to the government.
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These include implementation of a MSP guarantee; the withdrawal of electricity amendment bill 2020/21; removal of penal provisions against farmers in the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021; sacking of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni; the taking back of cases against farmers, and compensation for all those who lost their lives in the farmers' movement and a memorial in their name.
Speakers at the mahapanchayat pointed out that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had taunted the farmers when they had convened at Muzaffarnagar by telling them that if they had the guts they should come to Lucknow. And on a day that the farmers were in the city, he had chosen to leave the city (Adityanath was in Gorakhpur on Monday).
Rakesh Tikait, national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, said, “Till the Government of India does not speak to us about all the issues that are of concern to us, we will not stop.”