Mr. Prime Minister, Listen To The Farmers

farmers march

A revolution is happening in India. As usual, the revolution is not being televised. Tens of thousands of farmers are marching to the national capital New Delhi. After preventing them from entering the city for two days, the government was forced to allow their entry. Most of the mainstream media are either ignoring this revolution or calling the agitating farmers anti-nationals!

To,
Shri Narendra Modi,
Prime Minister of India.

Dear Shri Narendra Modi ji,

As you are aware, determined and resolute farmers are marching towards Delhi in lakhs from different states of India, including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and so on, under the leadership of various national and regional platforms of farmers organisations. A Samyukt Kisan Morcha was created in the recent past as a coordination mechanism for this Dilli Chalo program of the farmers.

These farmers, including youth, have had to face unprecedented obstacles placed in their way by Haryana and Uttar Pradesh governments presumably also at the behest of the central government, which tried every possible means to stop them – regular barricades, sand-laden trucks in multiple layers, barbed wire fences, huge boulders placed across the roads and even trenches on the road, water canons and tear gas. All of this in the cruel winter in north India. We are still managing to march forward, and thankfully without any untoward incident so far.

Thousands of farmers have reached the borders of the capital region of the country, and just like we have been resolutely moving forward, we shall continue to do so today as well.

https://twitter.com/LegendTheTerror/status/1332308891586052096

The nation, and the Government of India in particular have reached a crucial juncture when they have to ensure that farmers should not undergo this, and to ensure that no untoward incident occurs in an unfortunate stand-off between our annadatas and the government. It is because our voices were not heard and taken into account when framing the ordinances or passing them as Acts in the Parliament that has brought about this situation. The representations given to you multiple times in mounting agitations by farmers and their organisations across India are yet to receive replies from you.

At least now, the government of India should stop its confrontationist attitude of denying the largest section of our society an opportunity to be heard and sincere dialogue should be initiated. It becomes meaningless for the government to offer talks and not create a conducive atmosphere for such talks to happen.

farmers march1

farmers march2

It is against this background that we write to you to urge you to urgently:                                                  

  • ensure that the farmers have a free and safe passage into Delhi without creating a situation where any untoward incident is justified later on, as having been necessitated, which will cause a completely avoidable break away from the very peaceful manner that we have adopted so far;
  • allot us a space like Ramlila Maidan where we can gather and also hold talks with the government.
  • Call the all-India/regional platforms of the farmers for sincere discussions with senior ministers of your cabinet on our demands to repeal the 3 Farm Acts, the Electricity Bill 2020 and the Labour Codes.

Sincerely,

Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) and National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM); Dr. Sunilam, Adv. Aradhna Bhargava, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti; Rajkumar Sinha, Chutka Parmaanu Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti, NAPM, Madhya Pradesh;

Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, Shankar Singh, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), National Campaign for People’s Right to Information; Kavita Srivastava, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL); Kailash Meena NAPM Rajasthan;

Prafulla Samantara, Lok Shakti Abhiyan; Lingraj Azad, Samajwadi Jan Parishad & Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, Manorama, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti; Lingaraj Pradhan, Satya banchor, Anant, Kalyan Anand, Arun Jena, Trilochan Punji, Lakshimipriya Mohanty and Balakrishna Sand, Manas Patnaik, NAPM Odisha;

Sandeep Pandey (Socialist Party of India); Richa Singh & Rambeti (Sangatin Kisaan Mazdoor Sangathan, Sitapur); Rajeev Yadav & Masihuddin bhai (Rihai Manch, Lucknow & Azamgadh); Arundhati Dhuru & Zainab Khatun (Mahila Yuva Adhikar Manch, Lucknow), Suresh Rathaur (MNREGA Mazdoor Union, Varanasi);  Arvind Murti & Altamas Ansari (Inquilabi Kamgaar Union, Mau), Jagriti Rahi (Vision Sansthan, Varanasi); Satish Singh (Sarvodayi Vikas Samiti, Varanasi); Nakul Singh Sawney (Chal Chitra Abhiyan, Muzaffarnagar); NAPM Uttar Pradesh

P. Chennaiah,Andhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Vruthidarula Union-APVVU, Ramakrishnam Raju,United Forum for RTI and NAPM, Chakri (Samalochana), Balu GadiBapji Juvvala, NAPM Andhra Pradesh;

Jeevan Kumar & Syed Bilal (Human Rights Forum), P. Shankar (Dalit Bahujan Front), Vissa Kiran Kumar & Kondal (Rythu Swarajya Vedika), Ravi Kanneganti (Rythu JAC), Ashalatha (MAKAAM), Krishna (Telangana Vidyavantula Vedika-TVV), M. Venkatayya (Telangana Vyavasaya Vruttidarula Union-TVVU), Meera Sanghamitra, Rajesh Serupally, NAPM Telangana;

Sister Celia, Domestic Workers Union; Maj Gen (Retd) S.G.Vombatkere, NAPM, Nawaz, Dwiji, Nalini, NAPM Karnataka

Gabriele Dietrich, Penn Urimay Iyakkam, Madurai; Geetha Ramakrishnan, Unorganised Sector Workers Federation; Suthanthiran, Suthanthiran, Lenin & Arul Doss, NAPM Tamilnadu;

Vilayodi Venugopal, CR Neelakandan, Prof. Kusumam Joseph, Sharath Cheloor, Vijayaraghavan Cheliya, Majeendran, Magline, NAPM, Kerala;

Dayamani Barla, Aadivasi-Moolnivasi Astivtva Raksha Samiti; Basant Hetamsaria, Aloka Kujur, Dr. Leo A. Singh, Afzal Anish, Sushma Biruli, Durga Nayak, Jipal Murmu, Priti Ranjan Dash, Ashok Verma, NAPM Jharkhand;

Anand Mazgaonkar, Swati Desai, Krishnakant, Parth, Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti; Nita Mahadev, Mudita, Lok Samiti; Dev Desai, Mujahid Nafees, Ramesh Tadvi, Aziz Minat and Bharat Jambucha, NAPM Gujarat;

Vimal Bhai, Matu Jan sangathan; Jabar Singh, Uma, NAPM, Uttarakhand;

Manshi Asher and Himshi Singh, Himdhara, NAPM Himachal Pradesh

Eric Pinto, Abhijeet, Tania Devaiah and Francesca, NAPM Goa

Gautam Bandopadhyay, Nadi Ghati Morcha; Kaladas Dahariya, RELAA, Alok Shukla NAPM Chhattisgarh;

Samar Bagchi, Amitava Mitra, Binayak Sen, Sujato Bhadro, Pradip Chatterjee, Pasarul Alam, Amitava Mitra, Tapas Das, Tahomina Mandal, Pabitra Mandal, Kazi Md. Sherif, Biswajit Basak, Ayesha Khatun, Rupak Mukherjee, Milan Das, Asit Roy, Mita Bhatta, Yasin, Matiur Rahman, Baiwajit Basa, NAPM West Bengal;

Suniti SR, Sanjay M G, Suhas Kolhekar, Prasad Bagwe, Mukta Srivastava, Yuvraj Gatkal, Geetanjali Chavan, Bilal Khan, Jameela, Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan; Chetan Salve, Narmada Bachao Andolan, NAPM Maharashtra;

J S Walia, NAPM Haryana; Guruwant Singh, NAPM Punjab;

Kamayani Swami, Ashish Ranjan, Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan; Mahendra Yadav, Kosi Navnirman Manch;  NAPM Bihar;

Rajendra Ravi, NAPM; Bhupender Singh Rawat, Jan Sangharsh Vahini; Anjali Bharadwaj and Amrita Johri, Satark Nagrik Sangathan;  Sanjeev Kumar, Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch; Anita Kapoor, Delhi Shahri Mahila Kaamgaar Union; Sunita Rani, National Domestic Workers Union; Nanhu Prasad, National Cyclist Union; Madhuresh Kumar, Priya Pillai, Aryaman Jain, Divyansh Khurana, Evita Das; Anil TV, Delhi Solidarity Group, MJ Vijayan (PIPFPD)

 

WE EXPRESS OUR SOLIDARITY WITH

Coordination Committee of Samyukt Kisan Morcha

Balbir Singh Rajewal, Daljeet Singh Dallewala, Gurnam Singh Chaduni, VM Singh, Raju Shetti, Shivkumar Sharma Kakkaji, Yogendra Yadav

National Working Group of All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC):

• VM Singh, Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sanghatan (Convenor)
• Avik Saha, Jai Kisan Andolan (Organising Secretary)
• Dr Ashish Mital and V Venkataramaiah, All India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha
• Dr Ashok Dhawale and Hannan Mollah, All India Kisan Sabha
• Atul Kumar Anjaan and Bhupinder Samber, All India Kisan Sabha
• Dr Darshan Pal, Krantikari Kisan Union
• Jagmohan Singh, BKU Dakaunda
• Kavitha Kuruganti and Kiran Vissa, ASHA-Kisan Swaraj
• Kodihalli Chandrasekhar, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha
• Medha Patkar, National Alliance for People’s Movements
• Pratibha Shinde, Lok Sangharsh Morcha
• Rajaram Singh and Premsingh Gehlawat, All India Kisan Mahasabha
• Raju Shetti, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana
• Richa Singh, Sangtin Kisan Mazdoor Sanghatan
• Satnam Singh Ajnala, Jamhoori Kisan Sabha
• Satyawan, All India Kisan Khet Mazdoor Sanghatan
• Dr Sunilam, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti
• Tajinder Singh Virk, Terai Kisan Sabha
• Yogendra Yadav, Jai Kisan Andolan

BKU (Rajewal)
S. Balbir Singh Rajewal

BKU (Chaduni)
S. Gurnam Singh Chadhuni
Rampal Chahal, Ganna Sangharsh Samiti, Bhadson
Vinod Rana, Ganna Sangharsh Samiti, Sahjadpur
Satyawan Danoda, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti

National Coordination Committee of Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh
• Shiv Kumar Kakkaji, President, Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh
• Jagjeet Singh Dallewal, President, BKU Ekta Sidhupur
• Rishipal Ambavta, President, BKU (A)
• Harpal Choudhary, President, BKU (AA)
• Kurburu Shantakumar, President, Karnataka Sugarcane Farmers Association
• J. K. Patel, Gujarat State President, Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh
• Manjit Singh Rai, President, BKU Doaba
• Sewa Singh Arya, Vice President, BKU
• Jasbir Singh Bhatti, President, National Farmers Organization
• Tanvir Ahmad Dar, J&K President, RKMMS
• Laxman Wange, Kisan Kranti Morcha
• K. V. Biju, National Coordinator, Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh
• Santveer Singh, Convenor, Ganganagar Kisan Samiti

For any further details, contact: [email protected]

 


SIGN UP FOR COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWSLETTER


 

Support Countercurrents

Countercurrents is answerable only to our readers. Support honest journalism because we have no PLANET B.
Become a Patron at Patreon

Join Our Newsletter

GET COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWSLETTER STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX

Join our WhatsApp and Telegram Channels

Get CounterCurrents updates on our WhatsApp and Telegram Channels

Related Posts

Join Our Newsletter


Annual Subscription

Join Countercurrents Annual Fund Raising Campaign and help us

Latest News