The capital is about to witness a huge farmer’s march : but to what end?
As the country woke up “chai ki chuski” and “maa ke haath ke parantha”, the farmers that spent days growing the ingredients on our tables were preparing for the huge farmer’s march that will take place today.
This huge farmer’s march is being organised the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, the umbrella body of all the two hundred and seven organisations of farmers across the length and breadth of the country.
There are currently more than eight thousand farmers who came to Delhi to participate in the huge farmer’s march. They have spent the night in Ramleela Maidan. They have come to Delhi in the hopes that they will be heard.
The eight thousand farmers have begun their huge farmer’s march to the Parliament. These are the ones who toil day and night to ensure that the demand of food of this nation is met and yet when they have a problem and are here to practice their democratic rights of expression, the only political faction backing them is the Left. Not only that, their woes have been given a political angle and their agitations have been reduced to a political propaganda.
The farmers have marched more than twenty-five kilometres on the roads of Delhi at the time this is written. The huge farmer’s march did draw the attention of the government but they were not heard. The only thing that has been done until now is the deployment of three thousand five hundred security personnel.
The demands of farmers
These are farmers demanding what farmers demand, loan waiver and better price for what they produce. Nothing unreasonable. Just something that will keep them from attempting suicide, just something that will ensure that their families are well fed, well clothed and well educated.
Yet they had to leave their homes and travel to the capital in the hope of being heard. They had to amass in such numbers to be heard. They might still not be heard. Their protests might be dismissed as politically motivated. When that happens, we will know, we will have failed our farmers, the people whom we call “anndata”.
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