Bharti Kisan Union (BKU) leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni, who is one of the major faces in the ongoing farmers’ agitation, made public sentiments what had so far been part of a private discussion – whether the time is ripe for farm unions to give up their apolitical stand and formally enter electoral politics to better serve the interest of the community they represent.
“When political parties failed to take care of farmers’ interests and refused to rollback farm laws despite months of protest, I think there is nothing wrong in giving a call to farmers unions to fight elections and forming a pro-farmer government that conceive favourable farm policies and also serve the society at large,” said Chaduni in conversation with The Wire, days after his video statement asking farmers’ union to enter electoral politics, triggered wider debate.
Harjeet Grewal, a senior leader from the Punjab unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which had recently expelled its senior leader for siding with farmers on controversial farm laws that his party enacted last year, was quick to point to Chaduni’s statement to reach home his point that he knew from the beginning that the real agenda behind farm stir was to grab political power, which now stands vindicated.
Regardless of it, Chaduni told The Wire that he had a strong reason why he said so.
“Whether it is the BJP or Congress rule, the government policies have been pro-corporate. Has any political party come forward wholeheartedly to support our demand for repealing these acts, and making MSP a legal right? So, there is only one solution. Like-minded people must come together and begin to fight elections, starting with Punjab and then in other states,” Chaduni said.
“You remember there was a movie (Nayak) in which an ordinary, but passionate person, becomes a chief minister and changes corrupt governance,” he recalled.
He said, “What have we achieved by handing over power to someone else and running after him to change the policies. We have several examples before us which show that one political party has replaced another, but the system has not changed.”
Also read: Farmers’ Message To Bengal: ‘Defeat Anti-People, Pro-Corporate BJP’
He said in Haryana, farmers agitated against Bhajan Lal and handed over power to Bansi Lal. When he did not do anything, they gave power to Om Prakash Chautala. When Chautala fired on farmers, Bhupinder Singh Hooda took advantage of it. “But what has our farming community got in return? What about our issues that remain unresolved,” questioned Chaduni.
“Will our issues get resolved if we end up defeating BJP in Uttar Pradesh, by campaigning against the party in upcoming state polls. Does it mean that we are helping the Congress indirectly?” Chaduni asked, speaking to The Wire.
“Instead of helping someone else, we must help ourselves,” he added.
He said that before Mission Uttar Pradesh (that is campaigning against ruling BJP ahead of state polls), the farmers should launch a ‘Mission Punjab’ and capture political power, so as to present a successful model of governance before the country for other states to follow suit.
‘Not joining electoral politics’
Dr. Darshan Pal, who is an important member of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), a group of over 40 farm unions that is coordinating the overall protests, told The Wire that the statement made by Chaduni was his personal viewpoint.
“Forget about joining electoral politics, none of the farm unions in our body or our nine-member core committee even brought the matter for discussion,” he informed.
“Our stand is the same as earlier, which is remain apolitical in our struggle against the BJP-ruled centre for the rollback of the controversial farm laws that it had enacted last year and also get another act passed to make MSP legal right of the farmers,” said Dr Darshan Pal.
Farmers protest outside Food Corporation of India (FCI) office in Amritsar, April 5, 2021. Photo: PTI
Upset over Chaduni’s stand, he said that being a senior farm leader and member of SKM, he must refrain from making such statements, since it somehow creates confusion and gives an advantage to forces against which they are fighting.
“Any statement regarding farmers’ protest must come collectively, so that the ongoing agitation remains united and focused towards its goal of getting farm laws repealed,” he added.
“We went to campaign against the BJP in West Bengal and are planning similar campaigns in other poll-bound states only to make people aware about what it has been doing with farmers. We are not here to be a part of politics,” he asserted.
Also read: ‘Defeat BJP: Mission Uttar Pradesh,’ Farmers to Campaign Against BJP Ahead of 2022 Polls
On where the farm stir stands right now, Dr. Darshan Pal said that in the next two months, there will be another round of major mobilisation of farmers for a protest. “Our next target is to enter Uttar Pradesh and hold similar dharnas across the state to force BJP to take back farm laws,” he added.
Professor Harjeshwar Pal Singh, a political commentator based in Chandigarh, said there is a strong reason why farm unions are having the dominant view that they need to remain apolitical and that is to keep the movement united.
“If the farm unions formally join electoral politics, they then fear that they must lose ground support from masses at large. This fear has substance too. People of all kinds of political ideologies have made this movement successful. There are chances that the movement may lose support if they join politics and announce fighting elections in the middle of the agitation,” he added.
He said the movement is at a very crucial juncture and it is very important to keep it united. “Until the movement reaches any favourable conclusion, they are compelled to remain apolitical. Otherwise, they will be tagged as another political front and overall movement may face a setback,” he added.
It is not the first time farmers’ protest has been dragged into politics. Some time back, there were strong rumours that another prominent SKM leader Balbir Singh Rajewal was soon to join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Sources within the AAP said that the rumours were not entirely false, but Rajewal later denied them and called them ‘media creation’.
Senior journalist Hamir Singh said that one must understand that the farmers’ protest is a unique platform where organisations belonging to different political ideologies came together and made a joint front. Given that leaders of many of them have fought elections and supported different political parties, he said it will definitely affect the farmers’ movement if the agitation takes a political turn.
“However, it is a different matter that there is a strong feeling among common farmers to have a political voice of their own. They think that if AAP can emerge from Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement, why can’t this farm stir give way to a similar experiment. But people at large don’t understand the technicalities involved behind such decisions,” said Hamir Singh.
He said that the movement right now is in a deadlock with the Union government. The BJP is in no mood to relent as it fears that the withdrawal of bills will set a precedent and its other controversial decisions will come under public scrutiny, he added.
“I don’t think the current farm movement will go political until it comes to an end. Its outcome will decide the next course of action. It is difficult to predict how it will shape and impact the political equation in the region,” said Hamir Singh.
Troubles continue for the Punjab BJP unit
The Punjab unit of BJP is in the middle of an internal conflict. Already facing the ire of farmers, the party expelled its senior leader Anil Joshi for siding with farmers who demanded the revocation of farm laws.
A two-time legislator from Amritsar North, Joshi has been openly blaming the party’s state leadership for not giving correct feedback to the Union government on the farm laws.
Joshi, as per the orders of state unit chief Ashwani Sharma, did not give up his stubborn attitude of going against the party on farmers’ issue and hence was expelled.
In his tweet on Sunday, Joshi stated that he will now freely talk about the farmers’ movement.
In his media statements, Joshi questioned the party’s decision and asked whether it was a sin to speak for farmers.
He said that although he had worked hard for the party in the past 35 years, it was sad to end his journey with the party in such a manner.
