Towards the end of the six-hour-long mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar, UP, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait ascended the main dias with Ghulam Mohammad Jola바카라once his father바카라s trusted right-hand man바카라and a gaggle of other farmer union leaders. Holding hands, he leaned into the mikes and uttered the words 바카라Allah hu Akbar, Har Har Mahadev바카라. For a brief moment, the audience fell silent, unsure about how to react. Communal scars have run deep in western UP since the 2013 riots, which pundits say broke the long-existing Hindu-Muslim accord in the region and swung the political pendulum decisively towards the BJP, facilitating to a large extent its dominance over national politics since 2014. The significance of the organisers, Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), choosing Muzaffarnagar바카라ground zero of the 2013 riots바카라as the mahapanchayat venue was not lost on anyone. On September 5, though, the recovery from the stupor was swift, as the crowd lustily joined in the sloganeering first made popular by Rakesh바카라s long-deceased father Mahendra Singh Tikait.
Nine months into their relentless struggle, farmer unions leading the protest against the Centre바카라s three farm laws promulgated in September 2020 have hardened their stance. After early days of negotiations that fell through with the government maintaining a hard line on any possibility of repeal of the laws바카라followed by sporadic confrontations between farmers camping on protest at the national capital바카라s borders and security forces, culminating in some violence on this year바카라s Republic Day바카라the protesters too have become more intransigent, as they kept expanding the scope of their demands from an initial 13-point charter, to take the fight to the opposite camp. Now, they are no longer satisfied with just complete withdrawal of the three new farm laws, but want to uproot BJP바카라s electoral domination, assessing that the party in power is not going to relent. The September 5 mahapanchayat was not only called as a show of strength바카라it is estimated the number of attendees ran into several lakhs바카라but also to firm up the future course of action, with a series of activities culminating in a call to voters in assembly poll-bound UP and Uttarakhand not to vote for the BJP or its allies. Already, over the past few months, BJP leaders in Haryana and Punjab have been facing farmers바카라 wrath while trying to hold political or social programmes.
However, not all peasants바카라 organisations are in support. The RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) considers the SKM바카라an umbrella of several farmers바카라 unions바카라as a 바카라political바카라 movement. BKS ploughs a lone furrow, saying it stands against 바카라disruption of life and destruction of the nation바카라s properties바카라. It has separately submitted its own set of demands that includes an alternative to MSP, which they describe as 바카라profitable price over a farmer바카라s input costs바카라, and, instead of withdrawal of the new laws, only seeks certain amendments and concessions. However, despite several such submissions, including a letter to the PM, they have little to show for.
(This appeared in the print edition as "Kisans Unite Shiva 바카라n바카라 Allah")
