By Aas Mohammad Kaif

New Delhi: Ramraj village falls on the Bijnor road, nearly 120 km northeast of Delhi. Sardar Jasvinder Singh, former Mayor of London, came from this village. Nearly 2,000 Sikhs live in Ramraj. The village is also called mini-Punjab.

In Gurudwara Sahib Ramraj, situated on the same road, dozens of Sikh youth are making laddus. Talking to TwoCircles.net, one of them, Gurpreet Singh Ladi says, “The farmers in Delhi are fighting a just battle for their rights and we are with them. It’s getting cold. To increase the immunity of the protesting farmers, we are making laddus of besan (gram flour) and almonds cooked with desi ghee”.

Buta Singh and Bola Singh, also making Laddus, say, “This farmers’ struggle is for us. The government will have to listen to us. The farmers already have too many troubles and it’s not good to put them in further trouble. Farming is being made difficult.”
One kilometer further into the village, on Hastinapur Marg, in Sangat mohalla, Sardar Buta Singh (40) told us, “The farmers’ struggle is righteous and it’s for their rights. So far we have only sent quilts, mattresses and provisions but now we will also go to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them. The government, by making these laws, wants to impoverish farmers and starve our kids. The government will have to take these laws back. If they don’t, then we will keep fighting till our last breath. The farmers have made Modi, we have to get these bills revoked”.

In Sangat Mohalla of Ramraj, there are about 50 houses. All the houses are pretty big. A youth Gurjant Singh says that nobody in the village has less than five acres of land (about 35 bighas). Every alley in the village has a trolley full of Sugarcane standing. Gurjant says, “The Sugar Mill owners are buying sugarcane from outside but doesn’t give us indent. To buy Sugarcane from the farmer, the mill owners give an advance receipt, but to not buy at the fixed-rate, they are sourcing sugarcane from outside. This is cheaper for them whereas the Sugarcane of local farmers is rotting away.”

Narendra Singh (46) says, “Understand the law like this – today the mill owners are compelled to buy sugarcane from the farmers and the sugarcane has a fixed Minimum Support Price (MSP). Tomorrow when there is no MSP, then the buyers will decide the price. If the farmer wouldn’t sell for cheap, his harvest will rot. He will sell for less under compulsion.”

Narendra Singh added that he was unable to find a buyer for his paddy and incurred a loss of Rs 50,000. “Paddy assessed at Rs 1791 per quintal was sold for Rs 1600 whereas the MSP is Rs 1900. The officers didn’t even weigh our paddy. It didn’t even sell in Haryana.”

Sixty-five-year-old Amreek Singh says that the farmers’ agitation is fair and all the accusations made against farmers are baseless. “This is BJP’s agenda that anybody who opposes them, they accuse them of various things. The accusation of being Khalistani is a similar ploy. They all are farmers in the struggle and they are being maligned which is wrong. Modi doesn’t appear good to us anymore and the sooner he takes these laws back the better. We are also now preparing to go to Delhi.”

Seventy-year-old Gurdip Singh Malik tells TwoCircles.net that “Modi Ji has brought a bad law.”

“All the protesting farmers have our support. These are black laws and have to be taken back. They are planning to destroy agriculture. Modu was saying that he will help farmers. We are saying don’t help us, just leave us as we are. We don’t trust Modi anymore. They are accusing our women of joining the protests for money and are maligning us. There are our relatives from Punjab among the protestors. The talk of being Khalistani is also wrong. Our trust has been broken. We are also preparing to go to Delhi. We are also farmers,” he says.

Lakhs of farmers have been protesting against the new farm laws in Delhi for the past ten days. Many farmers’ organizations have supported the farmers of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. Negotiations with the government have failed twice. Anger against these laws is increasing in every village, farmers are restive and, especially in areas adjacent to Delhi, they are preparing to join the demonstrations.

Farmers here are agitated. Farmers are worried about their future and they are not sure if it is bright. Demonstrations are taking place in the capital but its effect can be seen in every village. Farmers are sad and their children have almost decided that they will not do farming in future. The children don’t feel positive about doing farming as a profession. They ask why and for whom?

Talking to TwoCircles.net, Eighteen-year-old Ajay Randhawa says that he is fed up with farming. “My grandfather was a hard-working farmer. My father even after his M.A. was a dedicated farmer, but I have decided that I will not farm. All around there is talk about the bad condition of farmers. When I watch this on TV, I feel bad. I have seen my father going to the fields at midnight in the dead of winter to start the water for irrigation. I feel bad when a farmer has to struggle to get his rights. In this country they gave the slogan ‘Jai Jawaan, Jai Kisaan’ but everybody can see the condition of the farmers. Farmers were called food providers but now they are being called names. It’s a very tough job. My grandfather and my father work very hard but even then they struggle to sell their crop. Nobody cares about the farmers. I feel bad. I don’t want to farm,” he says.

Ajay’s father sitting next to him nods his head and says his son is not wrong. “He is right. He will not farm. There is nothing in it (farming),” says Ajay’s father.

Saurabh Sintu is an unemployed youth with a B.Sc. degree. He says that “these huge houses of farmers you can see, they are all built on loans. Farmers are deeply indebted, they have no money.”

Sintu says he has four acres of land. “Imagine if you plant tomatoes in one bigha, and it only produces 20 kgs then what will the farmer do? When the harvest is low then the farmer has no alternative. When I was unable to get a job, I started farming. Farming is very difficult work, but the government does not think about our bad conditions and now they have brought a law through which we wouldn’t be able to sell our crops,” he says.

Another youth Vaibhav, standing next to him, says, “When there is MRP on a pack of biscuits then why shouldn’t there be MSP for a farmer’s crop!”

Elaborating, Sintu says these laws brought by the government are omens of farmers’ destruction.

“Imagine if tomatoes are selling here for 5 rupees/kg and 25 rupees/kg in Nagpur. If a farmer has 100 kg tomatoes then they will sell for 500 rupees but in taking it to Nagpur he will lose everything in transportation cost. The whole story is a sham. Everything is being given to the corporate. They will fix the price of our crops. Our struggle is just. Our demands are fair and are in farmers’ favour,” he says.

Avanish Kalkhandi is a post-graduate and knows a lot about agriculture. “This government should first tell us what they have done for improving farming? Like Israel, how many agricultural innovations were carried out? For two months there has been no water in the canal for irrigation. What to do about this and where is the receipt for sugarcane purchase and payment, please answer? They were going to double the income of farmers by 2022, what happened to that?” he asks.

Avanish says, “it’s not the income that doubled but the debt of the farmers has doubled.”

“Now these three laws will finish off agriculture and the whole control will go to the corporates. We are not kids. We understand everything. Corporate will buy the whole onion stock and then will slowly sell to the market on its terms. Once they will buy at a high rate and after that, the farmer will plead even to sell his crop. We all understand the plot. The demonstrating farmers should be stationed in Delhi and fight till these laws are repealed otherwise we will have to quit farming. Now we don’t get the respect of being food growers, we are being maligned. This is a corporate conspiracy. We will not let it succeed,” he adds.

Village Dewal, near Ganga barrage, is 140 kilometres from Delhi. Women in this area want to go to Delhi. Dewal can be called a Khadar area. This area, situated on the banks of Ganga, has a large community of Dera Sikhs and they farm here. Generally, no farmer has less than five acres of land.

Seventy-two-year old Hardev Kaur Navjivan says that she is sick and therefore helpless otherwise her heart is in Delhi. “These farmers are fighting to save our farms and farming and they have our full support.”

Hardev Kaur is suffering from bad knees but is angry about the farmers’ issues and says, “This fight is not only for farmers of Punjab and Haryana but that of the whole country”. She watches TV and also watches things on her cellphone. “The plain thing is that the government is saying these laws are for the betterment of farmers but if the farmers don’t want it then what’s the government’s point? If the government wants to feed us laddus but we don’t want it then why is it shoving it down our throats?”

Hardev Kaur’s husband Himmat Singh agrees with her and says, “First a company distributed free SIM cards and now no other cell phone networks work in the village. We don’t want to eat a laddu which will give us indigestion.”

Himmat Singh has five acres of land and says that, “Everybody is distressed by these laws. Even kids are asking questions. This will ruin the small farmers.”

Fifty-two-year old Rajinder Kaur, of the same village, says she wants to be sent to Delhi where she will make rotis (bread) for the protesting farmers. Rajinder Kaur is angry with film actress Kangana Ranaut’s statement about an old lady Mahinder Kaur. “Women have joined the men. When their menfolk are protesting, what will the women do at home? They (women) will of course be with their men.”

Kaur says that Kangana’s words are very objectionable. “I want her to come and cut hay for my cattle and I will pay her one thousand rupees.” Rajinder Kaur is preparing to go to Delhi to offer her service to the farmer’s protest.

Talking to TwoCircles.net, the former village head of Dewal, Avtar Singh, says there is a lot of talk among farmers and they are well-informed about the protests. “All day long people are talking about this (farmer’s protest) and even among women this is the talking point.”

Another farmer Rajendra Singh says that the government’s attitude is dictatorial. “They are adamant and don’t have farmers’ interest in their mind and are using the media to malign the movement. It’s a very simple thing if the farmers don’t like the farmer laws, then take it back. Whether it’s today or tomorrow, the government will have to relent because we are not going to back-out. We have given blood to this land and we just can’t hand it over to Adani-Ambani,” he says.

Source: twocircles.net