All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS)
36, Pt. Ravi Shankar Shukla Lane,
New Delhi-110 001. kisansabha@gmail.com
19th November, 2021
Historic Victory for United Anti-Corporate Kisan Struggle
PM Modi & BJP Forced to Bow Down to Farmers & Announce Repeal of Farm Laws
Narendra Modi and BJP Government Responsible for Death of over 700 Farmers
This Victory Gives More Confidence for Future Struggles
The arrogant Narendra Modi-led BJP Government has been forced to accept defeat and announce repeal of the three Anti-Farmer, Anti-People and Pro-Corporate Farm Laws. AIKS congratulates the lakhs of farmers, agricultural workers and workers across India who have led a resolute struggle for over one year against these Acts, braving extreme repression and making great sacrifices for this historic victory. The people of India had reposed faith in the farmers and come out in a big way in support of them.
However, the other fundamental demand of this historic farmers’ struggle – a Central Act to guarantee Minimum Support Price (MSP) to all crops of all farmers at one and a half times the comprehensive cost of production (C2+50%) – still remains unaddressed. It is the failure to address this demand that has aggravated the agrarian crisis and led to the suicide of over 4 lakh farmers in the last 25 years, of whom around 1 lakh farmers have ended their lives in the last 7 years of the Modi-led BJP regime.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP Government are directly culpable for the loss of about 700 lives in the course of the last one year of the farmers’ struggle. The AIKS demands that the Prime Minister and the BJP Government must take responsibility for the loss of hundreds of lives due to their insensitive and obstinate position and apologise to the nation. This is the second defeat for the BJP Government led by Narendra Modi at the hands of united Kisan movement. They were earlier forced to put on hold the Land Acquisition Ordinance in the wake of united protests led by farmers. The announcement of the Prime Minister is a big victory against the effort to corporatize agriculture and aggressively pursue neoliberal economic policies. AIKS salutes the martyrs of this united struggle and vows to continue the struggle till all our demands are met.
The BJP Government had unleashed extreme repression and had used corporate media to malign the farmers’ protest, with the Prime Minister himself leading the charge mocking protesting farmers as ‘Andolanjeevis’. Many other leaders have also insulted farmers. They had belittled the struggle as anti-national and made all efforts to malign it. This victory has triumphed over all such attacks. The farmers and people of India shall not forget the extreme repression, brutal attacks, the killing of our comrades and the insults hurled at farmers. We shall not forget the concrete walls, the barbed wire and barricades, the trenches dug, nails planted, insults hurled, the water cannons, teargas, the clampdown on internet, attacks on journalists. Everything shall be remembered.
We will have to remain vigilant and wait for the repeal of the Acts in Parliament. If the Prime Minister believes that his announcement will put an end to the farmers’ struggle he is grossly mistaken. The struggle will continue till an Act to ensure remunerative MSP is passed, the Electricity Amendments Bill and Labour Codes are withdrawn. It will continue until the killers of Lakhimpur Kheri and Karnal are brought to justice. This victory will spur many more united struggles and we shall hand down many more defeats to the anti-farmer, anti-worker BJP while building resistance to neoliberal economic policies.
Sd/- Ashok Dhawale
Sd/- Hannan Mollah
President General Secretary
This is the press statement released at the Press Conference organised by the AIKS and AIAWU on November 19, 2021 at the AIKS office, New Delhi. It was addressed by AIKS General Secretary Hannan Mollah, President Dr Ashok Dhawale, Joint Secretaries N K Shukla and Vijoo Krishnan, Finance Secretary P Krishnaprasad, AIAWU General Secretary B Venkat and Joint Secretary Vikram Singh.