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It was a mass upsurge
at the Rajasthan farmers against the reduction and prolonged poor supply of
irrigation water. The agitations in the three towns of Rajasthan’s Srigangana
district culminated into violent outbursts on 27 October, 2004 and the BJP
government of Rajasthan under Vasundhara Raje called in the army and resorted to
brute force, killing 4 farmers and critically injuring many.
It was a genuine
demand of the farmers of the region for water for irrigation. The entire
movement burst forth when the government turned down the demand of continued
supply of 5.23 cusecs of water per 1000 acres for cultivation. The whole
movement was led by Kisan Mazdoor Vyapari Sangharsh Samithi, owing no allegiance
to parties like the Congress or the BJP. The BJP led state government called out
the army in those three towns on the evening of 27 October when the farmers
turned more violent after the killing of 4 earlier in the day. The determined
farmers stood their ground even after an indefinite curfew was clamped in the
towns. On the morning of 27th in Rawla town on the Sriganganagar-Bikaneer road
the farmers set fire to the office and residence of the Station House Officer
and attacked the police. 4 were instantaneously killed. At Ghadsana the police
rained lathis on the agitating farmers and burst tear gas shells only a few days
earlier when some 175 government functionaries, including the Sub-Divisional
Magistrate and Deputy Superintendent of Police were held hostage by the farmers
for the second day.
27 October witnessed
pitched battles between the police and the farmers at many places. At Ghadsana,
despite prohibitory orders, hundreds of farmers from villages collected and set
fire to the offices and residences of the SDH and the Tehsildar and attacked the
office of the Sub-Registrar, besides setting ablaze a police post belonging to
the Border intelligence. In Khedi the villagers hurled stones at army men of the
Rajasthan armed constabulary who forcibly entered the village despite road
blocks. What is notable is that even after the announcement of curfew at 2-30
P.M. it could not be enforced as the people resisted police entry into the areas
till evening.
The violent upsurge
of the farmers of Sriganganagar is not something sudden and isolated. The
adjoining districts like Bikaneer and Hanumangarh have been witnessing farmers’
agitation for sometime past for the same issue of short supply of water for
irrigation from the Gang and Indira Gandhi Canal systems. In the neighbouring
district of Bhatinda, in Punjab, the cotton farmers have also been agitating.
Even after a bumper crop they face devastation, where cotton prices have crashed
from Rs. 2,700 per bale last year to Rs. 1,700 this year. This price fetched
will not even cover their cost of production. They have been burning their crop
in protest and demonstrating in Delhi.
The wrath of the
farmers amply proves that the BJP mantras on Mandir and the anti-Muslim tirade
shows signs of wearing out. They now ring hollow, to the peasants. Rajasthan
peasants, not much known for turning so violent, now realise through their
bitter experience that their demands can be heard by the people in the corridors
of power only by such demonstrations of fury against government policy. The
outburst of the peasants in Rajasthan proves the favourable revolutionary
situation needing intervention from the Marxist-Leninist forces in India to lead
it to overhaul the system itself.
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