On September 5, farmer unions held a ‘Mahapanchayat’ in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, in which reportedly lakhs of farmer protestors participated to protest against the Government of India. The aim, as per the farmer leaders, was to force the central government to repeal the three agriculture laws that were enacted in September 2020.
The farmers have been protesting against these laws since November 2020 at the Delhi border. Interestingly, the farmer protestors who came to attend Muzaffarnagar Mahapanchayat mixed Agriculture laws with CAA and NRC for some unknown reason.
‘The three black laws are CAA, NRC and NPA’ claimed farmer protestors
Hindustan 9, an online News Channel, published a ground report of Mahapanchayat at Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Rohit Sharma, the journalist from Hindustan 9, asked a few questions to the farmer protestors who were going to attend the Mahapanchayat. A person who identified himself as Mohammad Danish said that he came with a group of farmers from a nearby village.
Danish said, “We came with the aim to protest against the three black laws enacted by the Government of India. The protests under the leadership of Rakesh and Naresh Tikait have been happening at the Ghazipur border for the last nine months. The government should repeal these black laws that are against the interest of the farmers.”
Rohit questioned if he knows about the black laws, to which Danish said, “Yes, I know. One is NRC (National Register of Citizens), NPR (National Population Register), and there is one more that I forgot.” Rohit asked if he was talking about CAA (Citizen Amendment Act), to which Dinesh said, “Yes, Yes! That one.” Rohit confirmed, “So you are attending Mahapanchayat against these three laws?” and Danish said yes.
‘We will throw out these Gujarati Baniyas who sold the country’
Another farmer protestor who joined the conversation claimed that BJP was brought in power for progress, but they have done nothing. “All they do is Hindu and Muslim,” he alleged. “I am telling you these are foreign invaders. We will throw them out just like we threw out the British. These are Gujarati Baniyas. They are selling the country,” he said.
Another protestor who identified himself as Shaan Mohammad said that because of the government, they do not have anything to eat. While he was talking to the reporter, a group of men came and took all of them away. There was another protestor who was holding sugarcane in hand and said, “Our food has been locked in safes. We are going to reclaim our food. If we know how to make government, we can throw them out of power too.” A protestor named Deepak and said, “We will finish the roots of Modi.”
Clueless protestors and clueless leaders
Recently, Rubika Liyaquat of ABP News had questioned Rakesh Tikait during an interview and asked which portions of the law were problematic according to him. Tikait, who was confident a few minutes earlier, fumbled and asked her if she was on the government’s payroll. While he kept calling the laws “black laws”, Tikait ignored answering which parts of the farm laws are problematic to him and how. He kept diverting the questions and launching personal attacks on the anchor.
Farmer protests to CAA protests –everyone is just clueless
In November 2020, when the protests at the Delhi border were at their initial stage, a reporter had asked the protestors about the laws they were protesting against, to which one of them said, “I do not know. I came here for employment, let farmers & labourers see to it…” Another protestor revealed that he was not a farmer but a labourer. One protestor claimed that his father was a farmer, and he was attending the protests as “his company has been closed.” They were unclear about MSP as well. Interestingly, the Kisan Ekta Sangh leader was clueless about the laws but claimed he was there to throw the government out of power.
Similar clueless protestors were seen at anti-CAA protests. The so-called ‘liberals’ and many Leftist media outlets had publicised the false notion that the CAA will strip the Muslims of India of their citizenship and a lot of ‘protestors’ were led to believe that.
During the protests, a young woman at the Mumbai August Kranti Maidan had said she was there to make a strong point to the government and show her dissent no matter how much the government tried to ‘throttle’ her voice. As the reporter asked her regarding what the protest was really about, the lady protestor was perplexed and did not have an idea about why people were protesting.
Sadly, both the protests led to riots and violence in Delhi. Anti-CAA protests had led to anti-Hindu riots of February 2020. The farmer protests led to the Republic Day riots in 2021. Several cases have been filed in connection to the two instances of mob violence and investigations/trials are underway.
