Farmers protest: How Ghazipur turned from despair to new hope- Rakesh Tikait’s emotional outburst led to a spontaneous mobilisation

Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait’s emotional outburst in the face of an eviction order and massive force deployment led to a spontaneous mobilisation

Rakesh Tikait speaks to the media at the Ghazipur border near New Delhi on Friday.: (PTI)

Sanjay K. Jha   |   TT  |   New Delhi   |   30.01.21 : Television images of a peasant leader’s teardrops at the Ghazipur border on Thursday night helped galvanise the protesting farmers and their supporters, turning desolation into sudden determination and stalling a government plan to throw them out by intimidation or force.

Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait’s emotional outburst in the face of an eviction order and massive force deployment led to a spontaneous mobilisation of people from several hundred miles away through the night.

By Friday morning, a depleted and dispirited protest site on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border was throbbing with a much bigger and boisterous crowd, ever more resolved to stand up to any bullying tactics.

A pall had earlier descended on the site in the face of the eviction order served by the Yogi Adityanath administration and a heavy police and paramilitary build-up that triggered speculation of a midnight swoop.

With the crowds having thinned since the Republic Day controversy and the remaining protesters demoralised by the authorities’ attempts to use the Red Fort breach to blacken the movement, it looked like a cakewalk for the police.

Senior bureaucrats from the Meerut division had arrived and ordered Tikait to clear the site by midnight.

Tikait, younger son of the late farmer leader Mahendra Singh Tikait, appeared to have buckled under the pressure.

He flared up, screaming about the presence of BJP politicians and their armed supporters who he said were beating the farmers.

Breaking down before the television cameras, he said: “Now the BJP goons will beat up the farmers. I know what will happen after my arrest. I’m not going anywhere now; I shall commit suicide.”

Tikait went on: “Electricity and water supply have been disconnected. The government wants to kill the farmers. I’m not going to drink water till I get water from my village.”

The impassioned speech seemed to electrify his supporters and farmers across swathes of Uttar Pradesh.

Within minutes, thousands of farmers had assembled at Tikait’s home in Sisauli village of Muzaffarnagar district, with appeals made to reach Ghazipur as soon as possible.

A hurriedly called mahapanchayat of farmers sent out a message to the Adityanath government that the situation might slip out of hand.

Thousands ventured out in the cold winter night towards Ghazipur. The protesters at the site said at least 5,000 people had joined them by early Friday morning, and the stream of arriving tractors and cars was continuing through the day.

Reports spoke of bigger convoys heading towards the protest site but slowed down by hurdles put up by the Adityanath government. The Bijnor administration had allegedly blocked thousands of agitation supporters, whom the police were trying to browbeat with threats.

The tenor of the discussions at Ghazipur seemed to have changed, too, with the farm laws taking a backseat to talk of the BJP’s “cruelty” and the need to save the country from “tanashahi (dictatorship)”.

Satwant Singh Bains, who just arrived on Friday from Bajpur village in Udhamsingh Nagar, Uttarakhand, told The Telegraph of the emotions he felt when he saw Tikait weeping on television.

“I had a sinking feeling when I saw Tikait sahib weeping. Television channels were calling the farmers terrorists, and such a heavy deployment of forces in the night looked frightening,” he said.

“I wanted to come here immediately, but my family pleaded with me not to. My 94-year-old mother said this cruel government would not spare anyone.

“So I waited till 11.30pm for her to fall asleep. Then I took my car and drove 250km to arrive here at 4.30am. I now feel relaxed seeing thousands coming. I had been here since December but left after I fell ill. I’m not going anywhere now.”

Sukhwinder, who works in Noida, said he used to come here on Sundays to express his solidarity. He said he felt a surge of emotion on Thursday night and travelled to Ghazipur with his friends.

He sent a text message to his employer in the morning, seeking leave for a few days to be here.

A senior executive with a private firm who didn’t want to reveal his name said: “I’m not a farmer. But I eat. I didn’t like the Red Fort conspiracy and when I learnt of the eviction threat last night, I decided to come here.”

He continued: “This government treats everybody as its enemy; every section of society is terrorised. Governments do commit mistakes but they never work on an agenda to suppress and control citizens.”

He said he once supported the BJP but no longer. “I supported the BJP because I felt religion should have a moral oversight on politics. Now I’m distressed as a devout Hindu that religious leaders and saints are not berating Modi for traversing this path,” he said.

“Adani and Ambani can build a statue to Modi in gold but people will never remember him fondly, never respect him after all this.”

Pramod Kumar, a sugarcane farmer from Hapur, western Uttar Pradesh, said: “It is now a fight against tanashahi. From diesel prices to these laws, the intention is to weaken the farmers.

“I don’t understand how potatoes sold at Rs 50 a kilo when farmers didn’t have the crop and businessmen had the stocks in cold storage. Now the farmers’ crop is ready, and potatoes are selling at Rs 10 a kg.

“If unlimited storage is allowed, big corporate houses will manipulate the prices. Modi is at war with the farmers on behalf of the corporate sector. What can be more unfortunate?”

Tikait seemed in a different mood on Friday in the presence of the huge crowds.

He told the farmers from the dais: “Don’t misbehave with the media. Kalam, camera aur kisan par bandook ka pehra hai (The pen, TV camera and the farmers are under the watch of the gun). The reporters are doing whatever they can to help us. Please raise both hands and promise you will maintain peace.”

Thursday night’s defeatism, when Tikait had talked of committing suicide, had given way to hope, even a swagger.

“Farmers will write the destiny of India. Ham hi jawan, ham hi kisan (We the farmers are the soldiers). Farmers will decide what has to be done with farming,” Tikait said.