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On March 29 one
farmer was shot dead and 150 injured, including 24 women, in a brutal police
assault on agitating farmers that had resorted to a rail-roko on the main
railway line between Jalandhar and Amritsar. To clear the 7-hour blockade the
police resorted to firing, use of tear-gas shells and a lathi-charge. The farmer
who died was one Angrej Singh (22), a resident of the village Basipur, near Tarn
Tarn. Over one thousand policemen were deployed to quell the farmer’s agitation.
The farmers
throughout Punjab have been agitated by the low price being paid for sugarcane;
as also the huge arrears of non payment. They have also been agitated by the
continuous hike in electricity charges by the present Congress government. The
price of electricity which was virtually free earlier, now costs as much as
Rs.63 per horsepower per month. With the water table going lower and lower, the
average horsepower used is now 5, and going to as much as ten horsepower in some
areas. That means a monthly outgo of Rs.300 to Rs.600 for every farmer. Given
the lower returns in agriculture, such rising costs have pushed large number of
farmers into the debt trap, leading to even hundreds of suicides.
But a group of
farmers, organized around the independent organization, the Kisan Sangarsh
Committee (KSC), in about 150 villages in Amritsar district, have been
boycotting the payment of electricity bills for the last two years — i.e. after
the prices were raised. They have been facing harassment with their lines being
cut off. They are demanding re-connection and reduction of the rate. The
Congress, in their election Manifesto, before coming to power, had promised not
to reduce the subsidy on electricity charges. Earlier there only used to be
connection charges. But soon after being elected, bowing to World Bank dictates,
it gradually raised the price of electricity to the present rate, with plans to
raise it still further.
Later, the KSC also
got the support of the BKU(Ekta). Prior to this action demonstrations had been
held in Chandigarh and also short-duration rasta roko held on march 24th. The
Congress government gave excuses saying they were bound by the model code of
conduct of the Election Commission and would act after the elections. The
farmers realized that these was just stalling measures and decided to intensify
their agitation.
The rasta roko
continued for hours holding up all the main line trains since noon. After 6 pm,
when negotiations broke down, the police resorted to indiscriminate firing and a
lathi-charge. The farmers fought back. On the next day, at the time of the
cremation, over 1,000 police cordoned off the whole area; and when the farmers
began returning the police went on an arresting spree. 30 people were arrested.
The leaders of the agitation have false cases slapped on them of ‘attempt to
murder’ (307) and carrying illegal weapons.
The Congress
government has been vigorously implementing all World Bank polices in the State.
This has driven the once rich state to a situation where thousands of farmers
have been pushed into debt, and hundreds have committed suicide. Now, the worst
affected are the sugarcane and cotton growers; but, with the entrance of private
companies in grain purchases, particularly Cargill, it is only a matter of time
before the bulk of the rural populace will be pushed to destitution; the gainers
will only be the big trading companies. The situation is highly volatile; what
is needed is a revolutionary direction.
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