Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 22: Even as the union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar reiterated the centre’s stand of being ready to hold talks with the agitating farmers, a group of some 200 farmers under a very tight security held a parallel “Kisan Sansad” at Jantar Mantar on the Parliament Street on Thursday, barely a kilometer away from the Sansad Bhawan holding its monsoon session.
“We are showing them how to conduct a Parliament with knowledgeable discussions. The government says the farmers are uneducated, they say they need to educate the farmers about the impact of these three farm laws. Listen to the debates here. Is it not clear that the farmers have understood how their lives and livelihoods will be hurt by these laws?” said All India Kisan Sabha general secretary Hannan Mollah.
This is the first time since the tractor rally on January 26, when violence broke out in the National Capital that the authorities have permitted the farmers to hold protests. Security personnel have been deployed in large numbers both at Jantar Mantar and at Singhu border on Thursday.
Farmer leaders, who protested against the Centre’s contentious three farm laws, said they suspect that they were being snooped on by the government through Israeli spyware Pegasus. “It is an unethical government. We suspect that our numbers are also on list of those being snooped on,” farmer leader Shiv Kumar Kakka said at a press meet. “The government is behind the snooping. That’s clear and the issue is gaining traction. We know that they are keeping an eye on us too,” he alleged.
Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav said the phone numbers of farmer leaders will figure in the data of the year 2020-21. He also said that the UK Parliament is discussing their issues but not the government of India.
Talking to media persons outside the Parliament House, Tomar said the government was ready to hold discussions with protesting farmers “if they express their issues with the laws point-wise.”
“Country has witnessed that these farm laws are beneficial and are in favour of farmers. We have had discussions about these laws. If they express their issues with the laws point-wise, we can discuss it,” the minister said.
Protesting farmers came by buses from Tikri and Singhu borders to Jantar Mantar in the national capital. They are protesting against the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act. The agitating farmers are appealing to the Centre to repeal the laws, alleging that these legislatures would leave them at the mercy of big corporates.
Contradicting the government’s claims, Jasbir Kaur, committee member of Punjab Kisan Union, speaking at the “Kisan Sansad” said, “These laws will lead to the end of the existing mandi system and MSP procurement. It will result in farmers, agricultural labourers and mandi workers being deprived of their jobs. And when the private mandis come, replacing the government mandis, their infrastructure will only benefit Ambani and Adani, not farmers.” She was one of only seven women among the protestors on Thursday.
“If the fields and crops of this country go into the hands of corporates, if they take control of our harvests and our grain, then it is the people who will go hungry and face starvation. That is why this is the protest not just of farmers, but of the people. This is a jan sansad,” said Raminder Singh Patiala, a leader of the Kirti Kisan Union. Half of the protestors were from Punjab, where the agitation has been strongest, with the other half hailing from other States.
“These laws are actually dead already, but we still need the government to issue the death certificate,” said Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav, referring to the fact that the Supreme Court suspended implementation of the laws six months ago. He warned Opposition MPs, who have been issued a “voters whip” by the farmers that if they fail to take up the issue continuously in Parliament, they will face the same farmers’ boycott as BJP MPs face.
Even as the Parliament session was ongoing, more than 20 MPs from Kerala arrived at the Kisan Sansad to express their solidarity, but were not allowed on the farmers’ stage. “We just want to say that we stand with the farmers’ struggle. We don’t see this as a party issue, MPs from Kerala are in support across party lines,” said V. Sivadasan, a Rajya Sabha MP from the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi staged a protest in Parliament demanding the Centre to pay heed to farmers’ demands who are sitting at various Delhi borders since November last year.
Shiv Kumar ‘Kakkaji’, president, Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, and an SKM core committee member, noted that the police presence on the blockaded stretch of Parliament Street may be larger than within Parliament itself.
“Where is the need for this kind of security? For just 200 farmers, there are 50 companies of police. When we were leaving at Singhu border, there was one jawan for every 20 feet. There were three police checks along the way. What are they afraid of?” he said. He added that the farmer leaders have come to the Jantar Mantar protest site to establish that although they may be out of the public eye on the borders of Delhi, they are still protesting after eight months.
Meanwhile, the women and child welfare minister Smriti Irani told the Rajya Sabha that the government was ‘very concerned’ about the well-being of women farmers protesting at Delhi borders. Replying to a question, Irani said the agriculture ministry has appealed to the protesting farmers’ unions that women should be requested to go home keeping in view the severe weather conditions and Covid pandemic. “The government has been very concerned about the well-being of women farmers. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare during discussions with the farmers’ unions appealed to them that children and elders, especially women, should be requested to go home keeping in view the severe weather conditions and the Covid pandemic,” Irani said in a written reply.
The farmers ended the day with the national anthem and said they will keep returning to Jantar Mantar in batches every day to hold the “Kisan Sansad” till the monsoon session of Parliament lasts, the farm leaders said.
