Time for Course Correction

What the protest by Punjab's landed peasantry tells us about the state's economy and society

- Ashutosh Kumar

PUNJAB has a long historical lineage of farmers' protests, going back to the seven-month-long Pagrhi Sambhal O' Jatta protest of 1907 against the three colonial laws, followed by the years-long Muzara (tenant) movement that resulted in the abolition of Biswedari (land lordship) in 1952. The state also has a long history of unionisation of farmers, as the Punjab unit of the All India Kisan Sabha was established in 1943. More recently, Punjab witnessed a farmers' protest (2020-2021) against the three farm laws enacted by the centre. Farmers from Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh also participated in large numbers. The laws, which were later repealed by the central government, were an attempt to bring 'reform' to the farming sector. They were 'hard reforms' in three respects. First, they were direct and visible on the political radar, lapped up by the opposition. Second, if implemented, they were going to affect many farmers, adversely, as the agitating farmers thought. Third, the affected farmers were organised in the form of farmers' unions. Thus, the reversal by a seemingly 'strong' government was not much of a surprise, given the 'democratic pressure'.

Now, after barely three years, farmers—this time only from Punjab—are back in the agitational mode. The farmers, who were earlier ensconced on the Singhu border abutting Delhi, are now camping at Khanauri and Shambhu borders touching Haryana, both times stopped from marching to Delhi. They plan to march to Delhi on January 21, which in all probability will be thwarted, as in the past. The situation is increasingly becoming critical because of the hunger strike of 70-year-old farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, whose deteriorating health has drawn the concerns of the Supreme Court. Unlike in the case of the earlier protest, this time there is no attempt, so far, at ministerial level to engage the union leaders to break the deadlock.