Did farmers' strike on better prices and loan waiver serve any purpose?

The 10-day national farmer strike in June failed to ruffle any feathers, leaving many to question whether it served any purpose

On June 1, farmers went on a strike once again for 10 days to demand better prices and complete relief from mounting debts. They dumped vegetables and milk on the roads when the strike kicked off and declined to transport essential commodities from villages to cities as a mark of protest.

The strike, which coincided with the one-year anniversary of police firing on farmers during the first wave of protests in Madhya Pradesh, was the fourth such instance over the past year. The protesters were led by different organisations each time, but all of them had a common objective: better prices and loan waiver. This time round, however, people were worried the strike would shoot up prices of milk and vegetables as farmers had decided to cut the supply of produce from villages to cities. 

Surprisingly, that wasn’t the case. Ground reports supported by price and arrival data from agmarket.nic.in show that in Madhya Pradesh, one of the nerve-centres of this agitation, there was marginal effect on prices, and that too stabilised after the first few days of the strike (See: Holding steady). The damp squib was a relief to many and attributable to people stocking up on food items ahead of the strike in anticipation of a supply crunch.  

But does that mean the much-talked about ‘Gaon Bandh’ agitation failed to make an impact? Many do not see it that way. Kedar Sirohi, a core committee member of the Aam Kisan Union and one of the main leaders behind the farmers’ agitation in Madhya Pradesh, says the strike was not meant to ruffle feathers or cause tumult. The main objective, according to him, was simply to create awareness among people in urban areas about the pressing issues farmers face and bring together varied farmer groups for a common cause. 

 

Far from being discontent, he was pleased with the outcome. Sirohi says that more than 100 farmer organisations participated in the agitation across Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and parts of Rajasthan. “Women came out in large numbers to support us. We did try to rejuvenate the chaupals in villages, where farmer-related issues could be discussed, while at the same time forced the state government to accept several of our demands,” he adds. 

There were notable achievements. For one,  payments for produce sold under the price support scheme that were delayed by the government were cleared, and the limit on cash transaction at mandis was increased.

“If someone thinks that the success or failure of protests is measured by the violence it unleashes, then they would be disappointed because from the beginning itself the purpose of the agitation was to peacefully press for our demands and not indulge in any sort of violence,” says Sirohi.

His organisation, the Aam Kisan Union, started out as a political outfit in Madhya Pradesh nearly five years ago to raise awareness about rural issues.  Slowly, it grew into a platform to voice the challenges farmers face and spread to around 33 districts of the state. The funds are generated in-house through modest contributions from its members and the organisation does not solicit donations from political parties.

There are others who agree with Sirohi. Old RSS-hand Shivkumar Sharma’s Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh that had initially called for a 10-day strike in Madhya Pradesh called the demonstrations a success. From the beginning, the thrust was on keeping the movement peaceful, says Ramandeep Singh Mann, a farmer activist.  So, when mid-way through the agitation, violence broke out in Punjab, a section of farmers in the state called off the strike immediately. 

“This time we ourselves weren’t expecting a big success as the idea was to create buzz around farmers’ issues, and it was successful in parts of Haryana, Punjab and parts of Madhya Pradesh. We will have a bigger agitation after the kharif sowing is over around October,” says Mann. To draw support from urban dwellers and build momentum for the cause, he is using social media to highlight the distress farmers are facing today. 

So, have farmer demonstrations shapeshifted into actions more subdued than those of previous ones? Many do not think so. “I agree the current agitation created an impression in the mind of the common man, but most of it was negative. The image of farmers throwing their produce on the streets didn’t create a good perception,” says Avik Saha, co-convener of Jai Kisan Andolan. By threatening to stop supply of essential commodities, the farmers, he says, had resorted to what could be called “blackmailing”. 

Also, not all farmer organisations supported the strike. The All India Kisan Sanghrash Coordination Committee, which claims to have support of 180 organisations, decided to give ‘moral support’ to the cause from the outside, and the CPI-M backed All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) did not participate in the agitation at all. 

Incidentally, AIKS was instrumental in organising the long-march of farmers in Maharashtra in March, which caught the imagination of people living in cities with many netizens coming out in their support. 

Others are divided too. Yogendra Yadav, founder of Swaraj Abhiyan, says while such agitations help keep the issue of farmer distress alive and the spotlight on ‘kisan and jawan’, they do not always manage to achieve their objective.

“In terms of achievements, much more could have been achieved in these 10 days,” he says. 

Even so, with crucial elections scheduled in three big agrarian states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and falling food prices hitting farmers hard, protests are only expected to become more frequent.

 “In an election year, such issues will dominate the discourse, and rightly so, as farmers are in distress. Between September and March, many more agitations and protests by farmers would be seen,” says Pushpendra Singh, president of Kisan Shakti Sangh, a farmers’ organisation. Whether they would be peaceful or not is anyone’s guess.