'Delhi Chalo': How the ongoing farmers' protest is different from the 2020-21 stir

A bedlam erupted on Tuesday (13 February) as the police fired tear gas at protesting farmers at the Shambhu border between the state and neighbouring Punjab. Visuals showed police and security personnel dropping smoke bombs from drones to disperse the farmers, reported NDTV.

Earlier, several farmers were detained and their vehicles were seized at the border by the Haryana police soon after farmers began their “Delhi Chalo” march at 10 am today.

Farmers of over 200 unions from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have hit the roads to press the Centre for their several demands, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for all crops. The Delhi Chalo march comes after the second meeting between farmer leaders and Union ministers on Monday evening remained inconclusive.

#WATCH | Police use tear gas to disperse protesting farmers at the Haryana-Punjab Shambhu border. pic.twitter.com/FtTvSMSVdK

— ANI (@ANI) February 13, 2024

The latest farmers’ march to Delhi is reminiscent of the massive stir in 2020-2021 that had forced the Central government to repeal its three agricultural reforms. However, there are several distinctions between these two protests.

Let’s take a closer look.

Who are leading the ‘Dilli Chalo’ march?

The farmer unions spearheading the latest protests differ from those that led the agitation in 2020-21.

Over 250 farmers’ unions under the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) umbrella, which claims to include about 100 unions, and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political), comprising 150 unions, have called the ‘Dilli Chalo’ march, reported Indian Express.

After the farmers returned home from Delhi borders following the rollback of the Centre’s three agriculture laws in December 2021, several farm groups splintered as disputes emerged within, according to a Times of India (TOI) report.

The active farmer organisations now stand at 50, a surge from 32 that came together in November 2020 to oppose the Centre’s farm laws, the newspaper report added.

Differences between the current and 2020-21 farmers’ protests

The 2020-21 agitation was led by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a platform of over 500 farmer unions in India. The organisation is not involved in the 2024 farmers’ protest. The original SKM had splintered into several groups in 2022. While it’s not part of the Delhi Chalo march, it has given its own Grameen Bharat bandh call on 16 February.

Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political), which is one of the two forums that gave a call for the ongoing protests, is a faction of the SKM.

SKM (non-political) is led by Jagjit Singh Dallewal, president of the Punjab-based Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Sidhupur farm union, noted Indian Express.

KMM, the other organisation leading the current stir, was set up by Sarwan Singh Pandher, convener of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC).

The KMSC, a Punjab-based union, was not part of the main 2020-21 protests, but had instead erected a separate stage at the Delhi border at Kundli, reported Indian Express.

Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait and Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni) president Gurnam Singh Charuni, who were two prominent faces of the 2020-21 agitation, are not participating in the current protest, according to Mint.

What are the farmers’ demands now?

Farm unions have multiple demands, including a legal guarantee for MSP for all crops and determining crop prices according to the Dr MS Swaminathan Commission’s report.

Their other demands are full debt waiver for farmers and labourers, justice for the victims of the October 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri killings, compensation for farmers who died during the 2020-21 protest, pensions for farmers and labourers, withdrawal of cases against protestors of the 2020-21 stir, and so on.

Intensified security, government response

Delhi has been turned into a fortress as farmers from some northern states march to the National Capital. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 have been imposed at the city’s Ghazipur, Singhu and Tikri borders. Barbed wires, nails on roads, cement barricades have been put up to stop the farmers from reaching Delhi.

The Haryana government began closing its borders with Punjab on 8 February, setting up various barricades at Fatehabad, Khanauri and Dabwali by Monday evening. A 12-layer barricade has also come up at the Shambhu Barrier on National Highway 1 leading to Delhi.

Internet services have been shut down in several districts of Haryana.

Rajasthan has sealed its borders with Punjab and Haryana and imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC in Sri Ganganagar and Hanumangarh districts.

This time, the Centre began negotiations with the farmers even before the march started. On 8 February, Union agriculture minister Arjun Munda, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, and MoS home Nityanand Rai met a farmers’ delegation in Chandigarh. The meeting was coordinated by Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann.

The second meeting which was held on Monday evening resulted in a stalemate. Mann was not present at this huddle.

With inputs from agencies