Thousands of farmers continued their protests at the borders of India’s capital New Delhi on Wednesday, December 4 despite a crackdown by the Uttar Pradesh government led by the ultra right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a day earlier. Farmers defied the state repression and betrayals claiming the struggle will become even more intense now.
AIKS Condemns the Police Action and Arrest of Greater NOIDA Farmers
In the aftermath of the massive Delhi Kooch/Delhi March by farmers of Greater NOIDA on 2ndDecember, 2024, the Uttar Pradesh Government authorities had assured that the Chief Secretary would meet the (1/n) pic.twitter.com/JNKPv0OWhx
— AIKS (@KisanSabha) December 3, 2024
As per the reports on Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh security forces, violating an agreement made on Monday, arrested over 160 farmers and farmer leaders in an attempt to break their sit-in near a major expressway leading to Delhi. In a press release on Tuesday, Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the main organizer of the protests, called the arrests “a violation of the constitutional rights for peaceful protests.”
Wednesday’s meeting was addressed by several leaders from the left-wing All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) such as its general secretary Vijoo Krishnan and Hannan Mollah. AIKS reiterated its resolve to intensify the struggle in the coming days until all the demands are met.
Thousands of farmers marched to Delhi on Monday, December 2 from numerous villages and semi urban spaces around India’s capital city in their attempts to reach the parliament to press for their demands. They confronted the security forces who tried to stop them from going to Delhi, breaking the barricades and defying the use of force. They had finally decided to convert the march to Delhi into a sit-in at the border after the local administration agreed to start negotiations.
AIKS claimed the arrests on Tuesday were carried out in violation of the terms agreed with the local administration on Monday. SKM reminded the Uttar Pradesh government that “using police force cannot resolve the burning issues of the people who have lost their valuable land and livelihood for a pittance.”
The agitation was launched by the farmers to seek proper compensation for their lands acquired to build urban infrastructure in and around the capital city and a better rehabilitation package for their family members.
The call for the mobilization to Delhi was given by the SKM or the United Farmers Front. SKM consists of 10 farmer organizations, including the left-wing AIKS, and was formed during the 2020-21 farmer’s agitation against the pro-corporate farm laws brought by the BJP government. Several other organizations have also joined the agitation.
While talking about the objectives behind the agitation, Pushpendra Tyagi, AIKS leader, said in a video message that the central demand of the farmers is full implementation of the 2013 land acquisition law. In support of this particular demand, farmers have been protesting for months in Noida and their march to Delhi was in order “to press the parliament” to address their genuine concerns.
Farmers are also demanding handing of at least 10% of the developed plots taken back to them and proper implementation of the provisions of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, (LARR Act) AIKS said in a press release on Monday.
Other demands include a legally binding minimum support price for the crops, jobs for farmers whose lands have been acquired and rehabilitation for all those who have been displaced due to the development of NOIDA.
Arbitrary land acquisition deprives farmers their livelihoods
NOIDA is the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, a satellite town near Delhi first conceived of in the 1970s. When the lands for various phases of expansion of NOIDA were acquired, local farmers lost a large chunk of their agricultural lands. Most of the farmers whose land has been acquired in the process have no other means of livelihood and struggle to meet their ends. They have been complaining that the compensation provided to them at the time was inadequate. They also claim that no proper rehabilitation plan was followed under the pre-2013 law. They want compensation and rehabilitation as per the 2013 law.
The 2013 act replaced a colonial era law promising consent and better compensation and rehabilitation for owners of the farm lands in case of acquisition. The law was enacted after a decades-long agitation led by AIKS and several other farmer organizations. However, right-wing BJP which came to power in 2014, has been opposed to the provisions of the law calling it a hurdle in economic development. It has even tried to make amendments in the law which were only repulsed by a strong popular agitation.
SKM’s press release on Tuesday accuses that the BJP government has “failed to ensure justice to the farmers” by refusing to implement crucial provisions of the LARR Act of 2013.
AIKS claims that the land of the agitating farmers were “forcefully acquired” by the government using a colonial law which left them with nothing as compensation. These farmers have been repeatedly promised by successive governments that a part of the developed land would be returned to them as compensation for almost a decade and half now. However, nothing has been transferred to them yet. AIKS declared on Monday that the farmers have decided “they will not leave [from the border] till their demands are met in full.”
Farmers have been protesting for their demands under the leadership of AIKS for months now. On November 26, these farmers joined the all India call given by SKM and the Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions for legal MSP and withdrawal of four repressive labor laws while participating in a sit-in in front of the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority office.
