In the last few days of the farmers’ protests, the number of protesters at the Ghazipur has been higher than it has been ever since the beginning of the protests more than two months ago. Initially, the crowd had shrunk considerably after the violence on R-Day, which triggered a crackdown by the police. The number of protesting farmers and their supporters then swelled tremendously after the emotional breakdown of Rakesh Tikait.
On January 28, BKU leader- Tikait had an emotional outburst & told the media that he would not move. A teary-eyed and clearly exasperated Tikait told journalists that the protest against the new farm laws would not end & that either the laws would be repealed or he would give his life. The video blazed through western Uttar Pradesh and, within hours, farmers, mostly Jats, entered Ghazipur in a show of support.
“The story of the Bharatiya Janata Party is over,” said Upendra Tomar, 50, a farmer from Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat who is now protesting against the new farm-laws at the Ghazipur border. To emphasize the point, Upendra drew a cross in the air with his finger. “Everything has an end. This andolan is their end.”
The Ghazipur farmer-protest on Sunday, January 31, resembled an agitation and a thoroughfare. Apart from the farmers, families from Delhi, Noida, and Ghaziabad strolled around with their children, sporting badges in support of the farmers and eating food and sweets prepared by the protesters.
On January 31, the protesting Jats told media that they plan to vote out the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Assembly election next year. Near the stage, under the expressway, and outside the makeshift kitchens, they reiterated that the saffron party had engineered a rift between Jats and Muslims in western Uttar Pradesh, did not pay farmers for their produce, hiked electricity and fertilizer rates, and ushered in social discord and agrarian distress.
Also See: Overview of Farmers’ protests- role of Charan Singh
Taunts by BJP leaders and ministers and sections of the media, calling the farmers “anti-national”, “Khalistani” and “terrorists”, have further embittered the landowning community, which believes that it has more patriotic credentials than those in power.
“Ninety-five percent of people here voted for the BJP in the 2017 Assembly election,” said Prince, 24, a farmer from Moradabad. He further added, “They are all miserable now. The BJP is not coming back. Their reign was a deception.”
BJP won because of the Muzaffarnagar riots
Jats at the Ghazipur protest told the media that they have seen through the BJP’s “divide and rule” politics in western Uttar Pradesh. The communal riots in Muzaffarnagar in 2013, which killed 62 people including 42 Muslims and 20 Hindus, are viewed by protesters as an event orchestrated by the saffron party for electoral gains.
(Sourced from NewsLaundry)
