Farmers’ protests have drawn national attention once again, if not with their sit-in demonstration on the borders of Punjab and Haryana that’s nearing a year, then surely with farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal’s fast-unto-death crossing 53 days on January 17. The septuagenarian cancer patient’s deteriorating health has brought focus on the demands he has been pressing for, especially that of a legally guaranteed Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all crops.
‘This Battle Is Not For Individuals To Win’: Farmer Leader Hannan Mollah
Hannan Mollah, an eight-time former parliamentarian, says farmers need to b𝓡uild the strongest possible unity for a prolonged struggle against the corporatisation o💖f farming
This round of farmers’ protests, which started in February 2024, is being organised by two groups. One is the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political), a breakaway faction of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which spearheaded the first round of the protests (2020-21) that led to the Narendra Modi government’s 2021 repealing the three farm laws that the SKM called ‘black laws’. Dallewal, who leads the Punjab-based Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur), broke away from the SKM and floated the SKM (non-political) in July 2022. The other force behind the current protests is the Sarwan Singh Pandher-led Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), which was not part of the SKM, but separately participated in the 2020-21 farmers’ protests. The influence of both organisations is limited to Punjab.
Dallewal started his fast-unto-death on November 26, 2024, a day after the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare released a draft National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing. Farmer leaders belonging to both the SKM and the SKM (non-political) are fiercely opposed to it, as they believe it aims to destroy the Agricultural Produce Market Committees, or the mandis.
As the protests are gaining momentum, Snigdhendu Bhattacharya spoke to Hannan Mollah, who is part of the SKM leadership. Mollah, a former eight-time Lok Sabha MP, is the vice-president of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), the farmer’s wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and one of India’s largest farmer organisations.
Why is the SKM not part of the current protests?
The SKM is very much part of the protests. We are not part of the🀅 protests taking place on the Punjab-Haryana border. But we are organising protests at other places, including Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthaꦬn and Uttar Pradesh. The issues that Dallewal is pressing for are also our demand. We differ on the mode of struggle.
What are the differences?
We understand that we are in for a prolonged battle. Dallewal’s organisation wanted to go it alone and broke away from us. They were in a hurry. But we thought Punjab alone cannot force the Modi government to retreat. We want to 🐈build a strong, nationwide movement based on broader unity of not only farmers, but also workers, students, civil society and other sections of the society. We also do not want Dallewal, or any other leader, to lose 🙈their lives by fasting unto death.
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Those leading the movement on the Punjab-Haryana border are sometimes accusing SKM of not doing enough.
The massive unity that the SKM managed to forge among a diverse section of farmers and society paved the path to the primary victory with the government’s withdrawal of the three farm laws. However, regarding legal guarantees for MSP, loan waivers and other demands, the government later backtracked o𒆙n its promise. We resumed protests within a year of withdrawing from the sit-in demonstration. We have been organising different forms of protests at the district and state levels.
During the past few weeks, the SKM held a farm🐬ers’ ‘mahapanchayat’ (grand assembly) in Haryana’s Tohana on January 4. Another ‘mahapanchayat’ was held at Moga in Punjab on January 9. The gathering was massive. On January 13, we burned copies of the draft National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing at the dꦉistrict level in many states.
All said, we are keen on forging a broader unity ra൲ther than criticising each other in public. We have been through a process of having dialo🤡gues with them and the SKM will continue to prioritise the point of farmers’ unity.
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How is the split in the movement affecting the broader farmers’ movement?
I wouldn’t call it a split in the movement. The SKM is an umbrella of more than 500 organisations from different parts of the country. They are a small breakaway faction compared to the SKM’s nationwide presence. Right from the beginning, the SKM has had three principles―anybody can join or leave the SKM; if any organisation outside the SKM takes up farmers’ issues and fights for genuine demands, we will sympathise with them; and, the SKM will oppose the government crackdown on any protest by farmers on ge🌳nuine issues, irrespective of their relations with the SKM. We are following these principles right from the beginning and it’s the same with the current movement on the Punjab-Haryana border.
The government did try its best to divide or split the SKM. When Dallewal and others launched the protests in February 2024, the Union government sent three ministers―Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Mini♊ster Arjun Munda, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai―twice, to talk to the leadership there. They took this initiative to initiate a dialogue with them, while they totally ignored the SKM’s repeated calls for a meeting over the past year. The government possibly wanted to ignore and undermine the SKM, as it’s an all-India organisation, and chose to talk only with two Punjab-based organisations.
We are not belittling the struggles of those who are camping ꦯon the Punjab-Haryana border. We are just pointing out the gover🌺nment’s political moves to divide the farmers’ leadership. At the same time, now that Dallewal has put his own life at risk, where have the ministers vanished? Why isn’t the government responding? We have apprehensions that there might be a conspiracy to lead Dallewal to the path of death.
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Do you want Dallewal to withdraw his fast?
Yes. His life is precious. He is an important leader of farmers. This government cares a hoot about farmers’ lives. We want him to withdraw from the fast and join the SKM to be a part of the collective leadership. This battle is not for ꦜindividuals to win, but needs a collective effort. Nevertheless, convincing him to withdraw is primarily the government’s responsibility. If anything bad happens to him, only the government will be responsible. It’s the government which created the situation in the first place by betraying the farmers on their demands.
What are your current plans?
We will organise a tractor rally in different parts of the country on January 26. Farmers’ Mahapanchayats are now being planned in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. We will chalk out programmes against the agricultural marketing framework. The non-BJP governments in Punjab and Kerala have already rejected the policy and we plan to tell other state governments―especially the non-BJP ones―that this policy is an attack on federalism. Agriculture is a state subject, but the Centre is trying to centralise everything in the hands of the Union government and corporates. However, all these will be finalised only during ou♔r meeting in Delhi on January 24.
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So, the SKM’s movement is expected to intensify, right?
Certainly. Not only have our demands of legally guaranteed MSP, loan waivers and withdrawal of police cases filed on protesting farmers remain unresolved, the new draft National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing is nothing, but an attempt to bring back the three black laws through the backdoo♔r. It’s a brut𝓡al attack and betrayal.
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