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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Why 2019 could be first Lok Sabha election to be fought on farmers' issues -Yogendra Yadav

Why 2019 could be first Lok Sabha election to be fought on farmers' issues -Yogendra Yadav

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published Published on Dec 8, 2018   modified Modified on Dec 8, 2018
-ThePrint.in

Not BJP or Congress, farmers are setting their own agenda for 2019 elections.

Has the farmers’ movement finally arrived at the centre stage of national politics in India? And, can 2019 be the first Lok Sabha election to be fought mainly on farmers’ issues?

I asked myself these questions sitting at the stage of Kisan Mukti March at the Parliament Street last week. Tens of thousands of farmers from all over the country had gathered under the banner of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), an umbrella forum of over 200 farmers’ organisations. For once, a farmers’ rally was not reported as a traffic nuisance or a law and order issue. Many opposition bigwigs were in attendance in the afternoon session meant for political parties. All this encouraged me to ask these questions, something I wouldn’t have done a few months ago.

The last time farmers occupied centre stage in national politics was almost exactly three decades ago, October-November 1988. Chaudhary Mahendra Singh Tikait had descended in Delhi with well over one lakh farmers, mostly from western Uttar Pradesh. His Bharatiya Kisan Union laid siege to the Boat Club, Rajpath, and with it the seat of national power for one whole week. The farmers occupied the national centre stage for a little while before being displaced by Bofors as the major issue for 1989 elections.

Last Saturday’s rally was not as gigantic as Tikait’s but was big enough to draw national attention. More than that, it had all the elements to put farmers at the centre stage of national politics: farmers from all major states of the country responded to the call by the AIKSCC. A never-before coalition of big landowners, small and marginal peasants, agricultural labour, adivasi and women farmers were present at this gathering.

More than 200 farmers’ organisations representing all politico-ideological strands were represented on the stage. Legatees of Tikait’s BKU were there in green along with Sharad Joshi’s Shetkari Sanghatana and M.D. Nanjundaswamy’s Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangh to representing better-off landed farmers. They were joined by Left-affiliated kisan sabhas (All India Kisan Sabha, All India Kisan Mahasabha, All India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha and many Left organisations from Punjab) representing small peasants and farm labour, all in red flags.

The third shade, mostly blue or white, was provided by proponents of ecological agriculture (National Alliance of People’s Movement, Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture, Rythu Swarajya Vedika). And the rainbow was completed by many new national and regional movements (Jai Kisan Andolan of Swaraj Abhiyan in yellow, Lok Sangharsh Morcha from Maharashtra, Gandhi Grameen Manch from Uttar Pradesh, Terai Kisan Union from Uttarakhand, to name a few). Farmers have learnt the first lesson of collective action: unity is strength.

They have also learnt something else. For the first time, farmers’ movement was not simply complaining, it was offering a clear solution. For the first time, farmers’ movement had narrowed down its charter of demands to just two operational points: remunerative prices and freedom from debt. For the first time, farmers’ movement had drafted two pieces of legislation, got the political parties to vet it and had these tabled in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as private member bills. While media continued to caricature their demands, these two bills show policy sophistication rarely witnessed in farmers’ politics. Farmers are learning the rules of the game in a parliamentary democracy.

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ThePrint.in, 5 December, 2018, https://theprint.in/opinion/why-2019-could-be-first-lok-sabha-election-to-be-fought-on-farmers-issues/158862/?fbclid=IwAR1ORxnKKJ8RTvR_zVBrj0JyKxvoTRNzQRU7eraRTIi-xHAIgp


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