Peasant protest may be harbinger of 'trouble' up ahead in Punjab

The farmer protests, most vociferous from Punjab, have to be tackled carefully. The rising discontent may be used by forces inimical to India’s national interest, senior journalist Sanjib Kr Baruah writes.

New Delhi: In a state that was near-devastated by a 15-year-long reign of terror (1980-1995) and where of late the old demand for ‘Khalistan’ is desperately trying to rear its head, the vociferous protests by the peasantry may be a sign of bigger trouble up ahead unless addressed.

“The political context in which passions are being inflamed makes it even more urgent that New Delhi assuages the angst of the peasantry. There are reports of the ‘Khalistan’ movement returning to Punjab. The prevailing agrarian distress will prove to be fertile grounds for its revival,” says Prof Kumar Sanjay Singh, who teaches history in Delhi University and has studied peasant movements and conflict situations.

“Only those who are oblivious of historical realities would ignore the linkages in the 1980s between agrarian distress and the ‘Khalistan’ movement.”

In the course of the largely-rural ‘Khalistan’ movement, more than 21,000 people died, thousands more injured and a generation psychologically scarred including a huge component of the rural community with a farming background.

Sharing similar concern is a prominent Punjab farmer leader: “Farmers’ agitations will lose steam today or tomorrow. Youth and the people will go back disheartened and lost. With no jobs around and discontent rife, a fertile ground has been created for secessionist elements to take advantage of the situation.”

“One must remember, it was a similar situation when a march from Punjab to Delhi was stopped during the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi. It led to huge ramifications. The same thing is playing out now. The tipping point is still not there but a situation is being created for that tipping point to arrive,” he added, declining to be named as he is involved with the government at various levels.

On Saturday, thousands of farmers from Punjab and Haryana managed to reach the outskirts of Delhi evading police all along on the way after pulling down barricades. The ‘Delhi Chalo’ march is to protest new farm laws passed by the government.

“Since the last two-three months, suddenly a number of songs have been sung with secessionist overtones and about 1984 (the year of anti-Sikh riots). Pakistan will use it. In Chandigarh, everyday conversations of drones coming in with weapons, pamphlets and other things from the border areas, is very normal nowadays in the knowledgeable circles. It has been communicated to New Delhi many times.”

“Terrorism affected the economy. The Punjab terror phase resulted in a lot of capital flight from the state especially among Hindu Punjabis who began investing in Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and adjoining places. Also that phase imparted a sense of invincibility to officialdom and the bureaucracy including the police that exist till now.”

“The ongoing farmers protest is at present driven by leaders of farmer unions who have capitalized on the rampant discontent. But there is a feeling that the union leaders are losing control of the agitation and on the protesting youth. While New Delhi is considered to be not heeding to the demands, the state government has not been able to meet the people’s expectations. So there is a political vacuum in the state,” the farmers’ leader asserted.

As a matter of fact, an attempt to launch ‘Referendum 2020’ in India this year was recently thwarted by the authorities.

Started by an outlawed organisation called ‘Sikhs for Justice’ (SFJ) and spearheaded by US-based lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, ‘Referendum 2020’ is a process where adult individuals in Punjab were to opt for an ‘independent country of Khalistan’ by registering themselves online on a portal. Planned for at least two years, it was part of a major effort to resurrect the movement for ‘Khalistan’.

Peasant movement in Punjab

Peasant movements have been a powerful feature of politics in Punjab ever since the introduction of commercial agriculture during the British colonial period.

The peasant movements in Punjab have developed through distinct phases.

In the princely state of Punjab, peasants agitated to secure land which was seized by the combine of landlords and officials. The tenants refused to pay the ‘batai’ or share rent to the landlord.

During the British colonial rule, peasant movements emerged to resist the colonial government’s attempt to enhance land revenue and increase tax was in the form of canal tax. In 1924, Punjab peasants successfully fought an agitation against the water rate. The Kisan Sabha movement in 1930s mobilised the peasantry on the issues of water rate and land revenue.

Says Prof Singh: “Introduction of new farm technology and the consequent monetisation of agricultural activities under the ‘green revolution’ signalled the second phase of agrarian transformation. Unequal terms of trade between rural and urban sectors became the major contradiction characterising this phase, and farmers’ movements arose seeking redressal of this discrimination. A Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime was a result of this phase of agitation.”

“The latest phase of agrarian struggle is to secure the security net of MSP. Peasants in Punjab are aware of the detrimental effects of the absence of MSP, on interests of the peasantry.”

“It is pertinent to underscore that MSP is a life and death question for peasants from Punjab. While ‘green revolution’ transformed Punjab into the bread basket of India, it also transformed agriculture from a labour intensive to a capital intensive process. In the absence of adequate formal credit facility there’s a significant dependence of agriculture on private institutions and individuals for credit. The resultant indebtedness is the most important reason for the distress of middle and marginal peasants in Punjab,” adds Prof Singh.