‘We Shall Not Live Half-Asleep’: Glimpses of Revolution from the Farmers’ Protests
Photo: Bindu T.G.
In a continuing large-scale protest, farmers have taken their stands in multiple borders around the New Delhi, prepared to force the government to blink first. Abhimanyu Kumar visited the Singhu border to find a spirit of resilience and revolution.
A sea of turban-clad faces greets us as we make our way to the Singhu border. The narrow road leading to the main site of protest is full of tractors and trolleys on either side, and a number of them carry posters related to the protests. We are trying to catch up with our friend who have arrived earlier. In the loud environment, it is almost impossible to hear each other clearly. Over the phone, our friends instruct us to meet them near the poster of Bhagat Singh, some way down the line.
Bhagat Singh’s face is everywhere, as the chosen inspiration of the protestors.
On 25 September 2020, farm unions all over India called for a Bharat Bandh (national shut down) to protest against the new farm laws. The most widespread protests took place in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh but demonstrations were also reported in many more states around the country. Since November, tens of thousands of farmers have marched to New Delhi and millions more held strikes in solidarity around India, making it perhaps the largest protest in human history. Farmers have taken their stands in multiple borders around the capital for the last few months, prepared to force the government to blink first.
Photo: Bindu T.G.
As the narrow road comes to end, we come to the main site of protest, with a big stage, and speakers making their arguments against the farm laws. Hawkers make brisk business selling snacks. Considering the bitter end-of-December cold, socks items like socks are also on sale. I spot a dental camp too, and a make-shift library. Books and pamphlets in Punjabi and Hindi are being sold at stalls all over.
We move along the side of the stage; there are several such stages erected across the total area of the site of protest, which extends to a few kilometres. We hear more speeches being made in Punjabi, Hindi and even English.
Sitting atop a blue tractor, turbaned youth raise slogans: “Kisan-Mazdoor Ekta, Zindabad!”, “Modi Sarkar, Murdabad!”. On the bumper of the tractor, a slogan is inscribed: No Farmers, No Food. The roar of the tractor’s engine provides a sort of drum-roll to the sloganeering, giving it a lilting rhythm. We see many protestors wearing badges which say: “I am a farmer, not a terrorist.” The reference is to attempts by BJP supporters to paint the protests as sponsored by Khalistanis.
I speak to a couple of protestors, one of whom turns out to be a policeman. He has taken a leave to participate in the protests. I ask him if it would not bring a censure from his superiors. “I am first and foremost a peasant’s son,” he says, cheerfully.
On the bumper of the tractor, a slogan is inscribed: No Farmers, No Food. The roar of the tractor’s engine provides a sort of drum-roll to the sloganeering, giving it a lilting rhythm. We see many protestors wearing badges which say: “I am a farmer, not a terrorist.”
The chutzpah of the protestors is impressive—and amusing as well. A young man holds up a poster mocking Bollywood actresses Kangana Ranaut and Payal Rohtagi, both of whom have spread insulting vitriol about the protestors. A prominent minister known for his hard-line image is depicted as a pig. The Prime Minister does not fare much better. Another poster depicts nationalist TV anchors with guns and in combat fatigue, with the cheeky caption: Lashkar-e-Indian Media.
A large-sized poster says: They say Muslims do not know what the CAA is about / Traders do not get the benefits of GST / Kashmiris do not appreciate the merits of abrogating Article 370 / The people do not understand the advantages of Demonetisation / Farmers do not understand the benefits of the new farm laws / No one else understands from which planet have BJP members descended. The biting sarcasm refers to multiple government initiatives sold as beneficial to the people, despite facing stern protests.
A group of protestors dressed in saffron clothes, led by women, sing loud folk songs loudly accompanied by a young man on a dhol. The singers play instruments traditionally used in kirtans, like the manjira (hand cymbals) and khartal. The beat is high-tempo and infectious, made sharper by the high-pitched vocals.
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Photo: Bindu T.G.
The role of peasants in a society—any society—forms the very basis of the formation of a state and the nation. Right from the inception of the very first Nation-States in Babylonia and Mesopotamia, the contract was simple, as scholars like Karen Armstrong have written: The farmers will farm and provide for the population, whereas the ruling class will defend the borders and spill their own blood if need be.
Human civilisation, as we know it, has its origin in the practice of agriculture. It was only when men began to cultivate land that the idea of the modern man started to take shape—with property being the most-important aspect. With property came the need for protection, which led to the formation of a state with military capabilities. According to Simone de Beauvoir, it was only with the acquisition of property that man started to think in binary terms: you and I, Self and the Other, man and the State. And as Engels showed in The Origin of Family and Private Property, even the concept of patriarchy began with man settling down and needing to pass on his property to his progenies. For this, it became necessary to make sure he was the father of the children that were said to belong to him, and hence, the need to marry and keep women within the confines of a home.
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A little further down the line, there is a health camp set up by a leftist trade union. A big poster with the face of Karl Marx covered with a leonine mane of hair stares at us. There is a poem inscribed on it:
Come
Let us travel on the
difficult path that goes through the wilderness
Come
because a shallow, and aimless
life is not acceptable to us
We shall not live half-asleep
pushing our pens
in the face of oppression and helplessness
We shall live full of
hope, rage, passion and
self-respect
We shall live like real human beings.
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In India’s case, this basic requirement—that a nation be self-sufficient in providing for its population—was missing when we were granted Independence. For all the grand talk of India being a beacon of hope for the rest of the Third World, we just did not have enough food to feed our hungry masses.
The United State of America came to the rescue with the PL-480 programme in the mid-1950s, which inspired poet Allen Ginsberg (who visited India in the 60s and 70s) to write in his poem “America”: “America when will you send your eggs to India?”
Photo: Bindu T.G.
The late journalist Inder Malhotra has written in detail about India’s tortured relations with the US over food aid. From the time of Nehru till Indira, the US did supply us with food grains, but seethed over India’s Non-Aligned stance and its criticism of US policies, particularly over the Vietnam War. It was only with the Green Revolution that this situation finally came to an end and India became self-sufficient in food. The Green Revolution was not limited to only India and was a phenomenon across other developing nations of the time which relied on technology—high-yielding crop variants, use of fertilisers and pesticides, etc.—to increase farm produce exponentially. (Today, we are aware of the environmental damage it caused in the long run, so we know it was a double-edged sword.)
As is well-known, Punjab played the biggest role in making the Green Revolution a success, and remains the state which contributes large—if not the largest—quantities of food grains to the stocks maintained by the government.
The three new farm laws, which allow private players to enter the agriculture sector, is a death knell for mandis and the concept of Minimum Support Price. They are in tune with India’s neo-liberal economic slant for the last three decades.
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It is important to keep this background in mind when we speak of the farmers’ protests going on today. Punjab has been the leader in the field of production of food grains; in simple terms, it has fed the entire country for decades. The policies of the BJP government are predictable: since the 90’s, successive governments have opted for more and more privatisation cutting across sectors. The three new farm laws, which allow private players to enter the agriculture sector, is a death knell for mandis and the concept of Minimum Support Price. They are in tune with India’s neo-liberal economic slant for the last three decades.
The protest by farmers of Punjab—who form the vanguard of the movement—and other states harks back to the original contract that every State has with its peasants. The farmers’ message is clear: they will not agree to the government abandoning them to the vagaries of the market.
The crisis, which our government has failed to manage, is quite likely to blow up in its face if it does not course-correct. This can be done with adopting a few simple steps: put the proposed laws on hold, form another committee and appoint trustworthy persons—acceptable to the farmers to find a middle-ground—and then proceed accordingly.
Photo: Bindu T.G.
Now that the farmers are threatening to enter the capital on January 26th for a parallel ‘Kisan’ Republic Day rally, we have to wait and see how the government responds. So far, the Centre has only stalled and bought time for itself. The Supreme Court’s efforts to mediate the issue have also failed. Most recently, the government offered to suspend the laws for 18 months, but the farmers’ unions rejected the proposal. The government may win trust-votes in Parliament, but it has lost the trust of the farmers.
The government’s failure to manage the Shaheen Bagh protests resulted in a riot in the national capital in early 2020. If the government does not get its act together, more mayhem will follow, throwing the entire country into turmoil. With the fear of COVID-19 far from contained, this will be a disaster that the Centre will not find easy to recover from.
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Everywhere, there is the wafting aroma of freshly-cooked food. Many langars are running, serving the protestors and visitors healthy and tasty food: kadi-chawal, rajma-chawal, chhole, chapati. Lassi is being distributed freely. We have our fill too. We had tea before, from two different counters. The large-heartedness for which Punjabis and Sikhs are famous is on full display here. Everyone is welcome to eat and there are no restrictions on the number of helpings.
Before we leave the site, we stand and watch along with everyone else at two Nihang—Sikh warriors—on horses posing for the crowds. They look utterly impressive in their colourful and tall headgears, their moustaches turned up at the ends, swords hanging by their sides, while holding the leashes of their horses in their hands, displaying their total command over the burly beasts of burden. The crowd spontaneously clears the area for their horses to stroll around in a large circle. The faces of the Nihang are hard to read in their impassivity, but the messaging is in the scene itself: defiance and self-belief, and a clear determination to fight till the end.
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Abhimanyu Kumar is a journalist based in Delhi. He has written for various national and international publications in the previous decade and continues to do so. His first book of poems Milan and the Sea was published in 2017. His work on cow-related lynchings in India was featured in an anthology published in 2018 by Aleph. He runs a literary blog called the Sunflower Collective, now five years old. He is also interested in cinema and film theory, philosophy and history. You can find him on Instagram: @abhimanyujourno.
