A brief history of farmers’ unions in India
Till 1978, the Punjab Khetibari Union (PKU), also known as Punjab Khetibari Zamindari Union, and Haryana’s Kisan Sangharsh Samiti were the only two farmers’ unions active in the entire North India.
PKU was renamed Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) in 1978. BKU split in 1982 and was reorganised by well-known farmers’ leader Mahendra Singh Tikait in October 1986.
The first major farmers’ agitation in North India was witnessed in 1988 when BKU laid siege to Meerut in January and February that year. Then came the week-long Boat Club protest in Delhi. Later on, BKU split into several factions, and BKU (Ekta Ugraha) remains one of the largest.
What is Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta Ugraha?
This non-political farmers’ union was formed by ex-Army man Joginder Singh Ugrahan in 2002 and is active in the Malwa region of Punjab. Due to its growing influence, it is often said that BKU (Ekta Ugraha) runs a parallel government in Punjab. BKU (Ekta Ugraha) leaders claim that 1.90 lakh out of the total of three lakh protesters belong to their organisation. Thousands more are stuck in various cities of Haryana leading up to Delhi. Tractors laden with ration and other items have been parked all through the 80-km stretch between Delhi and Rohtak.
The ongoing farmers’ agitation is the biggest in Delhi since 1988, when the Bharatiya Kisan Union mobilised five lakh farmers at Boat Club, demanding higher prices for sugarcane and waiver of power and water bills, among others.
The present agitation is led by 35 farmers’ unions – 31 among them from Punjab alone, and the rest from Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. Some 10 farmers’ unions, including eight from Punjab, have political affiliations.
While six farmers’ unions from Punjab are affiliated to various Left organisations, the other two are with the Akali Dal. Two more farmers’ outfits outside Punjab owe allegiance to the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress.
Though the largest farmers’ union spearheading the protests, Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta Ugraha, is not affiliated to any political organisation, the presence of several political party-backed outfits may complicate negotiations as they have their own ideologies, demands and methods of protest.
Common demands raised by farmers’ unions
The protesting farmers’ unions have raised five common demands before the Union government.
- Repealing the three new farm laws is the first demand. Farmers’ unions say these laws are not in their favour and will promote privatisation of agriculture, thus benefiting hoarders and big corporate houses.
- To get a written assurance in the form of a Bill that minimum support price (MSP) and conventional food grain procurement system by the Centre will continue.
- To scrap the Electricity (Amendment) Bill. Farmers’ unions say if this Bill becomes a law, they will lose the free electricity provision as it will promote privatisation of electricity and discontinuation of free power supplied to farmers in Punjab.
- To scrap the provision under which farmers responsible for burning farm residue can be imprisoned for five years, besides imposition of a fine of up to Rs one crore.
- To the release of farmers arrested on charges of burning paddy stubble in Punjab.
The Events on 26 January 2021
As the country celebrated Republic Day, the long-running protest by the farmers turned violent, with farmers waving farm union and religious flags from the ramparts of the fort, where prime ministers annually hoist the national flag on the country’s August independence holiday. Riot police fired tear gas and water cannons and set up barricades at many places. Tens of thousands of farmers marched, rode horses and drove tractors into India’s capital on the Republic Day, breaking through police barricades to storm the historic Red Fort — a deeply symbolic act that revealed the scale of their challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Security personnel were spread over 40 km on those three designated routes, but many farmers never reached there, instead they went to central Delhi — a totally different location, which was unmanned — and that became a major challenge.
Thousands of farmers broke barricades at the Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur borders, deviating from the fixed routes to march towards central Delhi, police personnel were clearly outnumbered. One protester — a farmer from Uttarakhand — died as his tractor overturned.
Delhi Police had registered cases of violation of lawful directions, rioting, damage to public property and assault on public servant with deadly weapons.