Palwal: Room heaters and blankets have not been enough to stay warm as a cold wave sweeps across the national capital region. But Rameshwar Rajput, a 76-year-old farmer from Uttar Pradesh, has been sleeping under the open sky at Atoha on the Delhi-Agra highway since he arrived nearly a week ago to join fellow protesters in their agitation against the new farming laws.
On the highway, the nights seem freezing cold, with the mercury in Delhi hovering below or near the 5 degrees Celsius minimum mark. Winter has dealt a harsh hand, but the farmers believe the new laws have dealt a harsher one.
“The fight that we are fighting is for our next three generations, if not more. We have been prevented from going to Delhi by the Centre but PM Modi will have to listen to us sooner or later. We will stay put here despite the harsh weather conditions till our demands are met,” said Rajput, lying on a mattress laid on the Delhi-Agra highway near barricades put up by the police.
Rajput is among around 2,000 farmers, mostly from Madhya Pradesh, who set out for Delhi from different districts to join the agitation against the three new farm laws but were stopped by Haryana Police and are sitting on this highway at Atoha in Palwal district, right next to the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways (KMP and KGP) interchange point.
The protest has built up over the past 18 days and those at the site said thousands more are headed from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh districts to the agitation because of the continuing stalemate on the farm laws. Even though the highway is blocked here, the impact on traffic has been moderate because the service lanes are open.
The protest here is being led by Shiv Kumar Kakka, president of the Rashtriya Kisan Majdoor Mahasangh (RKMM). “Even those marginal farmers who take land on lease for farming will be joining the protest for the first time. Several farmers are being detained in districts of MP and UP and farmer leaders are not being allowed to step out of their homes, with cops stationed outside their homes,” Kakka said.
He accused BJP of trying to mislead people by saying only farmers from Punjab were unhappy with the new farming laws. “This is a historic movement and farmers from across India are against these laws and will not settle for anything less than a repeal. BJP is trying to project that we are a divided lot but that is not the case. The Centre has tried to initiate dialogue with the farmer community, albeit those who do not represent us. We will not budge from here till our demands are met,” the RKMM leader said.
He added, “Our main demand is that apart from repealing the new farm laws, all crops should be procured on the MSP (minimum support price) formula as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission’s C2+50% formula. Besides, loans of every farmer should be waived completely. Fruits, vegetables and milk should also be procured on MSP.”
The farmers here have put out a charter of 10 demands that includes electricity arrears being waived, compensation of Rs 50,000 per hectare for the loss of soyabean crop due to drought and hailstorm and crop insurance.
“We also want that the MP government should procure local crops like maize, soyabean and rest at MSP,” said Chaturbhuj Patel, a farmer from Bundelkhand.
The protests here have been peaceful and are watched by a large police contingent.