The Iron Harvest

The farming community has always been given great significance when it comes to poll promises and manifestoes. But many of their issues have never been resolved

- Sharmita Kar

LIKE hundreds of others at the Shambu border, a frail Hardev Singh has turned his tractor into a makeshift tent where he has been spending weeks since farmers started protesting on February 13. Hailing from Punjab’s Moga district, 75-year-old Singh has black flags tied to his red tractor—to rebel. A small-time farmer, he owns a three-acre plot. The shrinking rights of farmers compelled his son to move to Canada.

“We barely get any money for the produce procured from us. We are the annadata. Do we not deserve this minimum guarantee that we are asking? And then we are being called Khalistani,” he says.

When the government awarded the Bharat Ratna to agricultural titans like former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh and Dr MS Swaminathan, it made headlines. However, concerns were also raised about whether the honour actually had a deeper significance or was merely a political tactic to draw voters. 

The Bharat Ratna came as thousands of farmers in Punjab renewed their protest seeking several demands, including a legal guarantee for a minimum support price (MSP) for crops based on the MS Swaminathan report. However, these demands remain a distant dream for the farmers while their legends are being given honorary statuses.

As the Opposition INDIA grouping framed its 2024 Lok Sabha poll battle around caste census, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that for him, the four “biggest castes” are the poor, the youth, women and farmers. One would expect that the demands of the farmers are heard, and promises made to them are kept.