farmers-unions-hold-punjab-to-ransom

Punjab, once an industrially developed and prosperous state and a favourite destination for investors, is now known for blocked highways, stalled development projects and protesting farmers, almost everywhere.

Announce an industrial project anywhere, next day you will find one or the other farmers’ union having started a protest at the site, much before the work begins on the project. Eventually, the project gets stalled.

What trade unions did to the industry in West Bengal in the 1960s and 1970s, the farm unions are threatening to do the same to Punjab now, if they have not already done so.

Recent newspaper reports suggested that development projects worth Rs 50,000 crores have been stalled in Punjab, just because the farmers’ unions were not allowing land acquisition in the state.

These were not private projects, but the government of India-funded projects like national highways, which have been cancelled and will need to be re-tendered now.

It is about six months since some farmers’ unions have blocked the national highway at Shambu along the Punjab-Haryana border. The union had blocked the rail tracks for some time also.

The union leaders have permanently encamped and entrenched themselves on the interstate border with all available amenities for comfort and luxury.

Newspaper reports suggested that in the makeshift shelters, they have installed refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners. Electricity is provided free of cost by the Punjab government.

For round-the-clock water supply, the union leaders have installed submersible water pumps. There is sufficient supply of ration of all sorts. Funding has never been a problem as the protestors get generous funds from donors, including from abroad. 

The cost of these protests

These “protests” do not come at any cost for these union leaders. Rather these come with a lot of incentives and a very comfortable living, which is to be seen to be believed.

Besides, this provides the unions “power” and recognition. Having tasted the blood after the BJP government at the centre revoked three farm laws, the unions assume themselves to be all-powerful and above law. 

 

The road blockade has come at a heavy price for lakhs and lakhs of people in both Punjab and Haryana. While the commuters suffer every day, the transporters, the taxi operators, the businessmen, the hoteliers and others have been bearing the brunt of the blockade.

Ludhiana manufacturers told this newspaper that their orders from outside have declined by half and the slide continues. Recently some traders and residents of surrounding areas entered into a scuffle with the protesters at Shambhu. The union leaders accused these people of being the “BJP goons”.

 

This is just one instance of how the farmers’ unions have held an entire system to ransom and that too without any cost to them. There has not even been an FIR against the road blockade. 

 

The issue has become politically so sensitive that no government, whether the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab or the BJP governments in Haryana and the centre are prepared to take any action. 

 

Even the Punjab and Haryana High Court orders about opening the road have not been implemented as yet. 

 

The farmers’ unions have not restricted themselves to staging protests on highways alone. Blockade at national or state highway toll plazas is a routine. Then they have been blocking various developmental projects and setting up of industries. An ethanol plant, which was set up in Zira in Ferozepur district was forcibly shut down, thanks to the protests.

 

Farmers are currently protesting against the opening up of CBG (compact biogas) plants in at least two places, both in the Ludhiana district. One is near Samrala and another is near Jagraon. 

 

The farmers’ unions claim that these projects will cause environmental hazards. The fact is that the CBG plants address the environmental issues and help in producing green energy. The CBG technology can greatly help in preventing or at least reducing stubble burning, as it will be used in producing energy. 

 

There are projects worth about Rs 50,000 crores that have been stalled just because the same farmers’ unions are not allowing land acquisition.

The meddling unions

Even where the farmers have agreed and accepted the compensation in the past, the unions instigate the landowners against letting the contractors work with the promise of more compensation.

Nowhere else in India is there any problem with land acquisition as the process is transparent and farmers get adequate compensation ranging from two to four times more than the prevailing market price. The same process is adopted in Punjab also. However, the farmers' unions ensure that they obstruct the process here. 

Three national highway projects in and around Ludhiana City have been stalled, as the National Highway Authority of India has not been able to get possession of the land acquired. Interestingly, about 80 per cent of land has already been acquired and after the farmers’ unions stepped in, the remaining 20 per cent acquisition became virtually impossible. Even those farmers who have accepted the terms and conditions and the compensation also, start backing out at the instigation of farmers’ unions.

 

Background

It all started when the BJP government at the centre introduced three farm laws in 2020.

There was routine opposition from various farm organisations. At that time, the Congress government in Punjab headed by Capt Amarinder Singh, to appease the farming community, provided all sort of support to the protestors that they eventually managed to reach the Delhi borders where they remained encamped for about a year. 

Senior Haryana Congress leader and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda smelled an opportunity to consolidate his hold over the farming/Jaat community and encouraged it to join the Punjabi/Jatt farmers. They fortified the Delhi borders and eventually, the BJP government at the centre had to withdraw the farm laws. 

 

Had it not been for the support of Haryana farmers, the Punjab farmers alone would not have been able to force their withdrawal. Congress did reap dividends in Haryana with the farming community completely turning against the BJP and rallying behind the Congress.

In Punjab also, the farming community has been mostly against the BJP.

 

With the Haryana elections around the corner, the Congress continues with its support to the “protesting” farmers, without realising what it has cost the states of Punjab and Haryana.

Opinions in the political fold

 

Since no political party would like to antagonise the farming community at this stage, rather than at any time, everybody wants to be politically correct. 

 

Recently, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi invited a group of protesting farm leaders for a meeting in his parliament office. 

 

While he assured them about raising and supporting their demand for legal guarantee to the MSP, he did not raise the issue of the road blockade for about half a year that has run havoc with Punjab’s trade, industry and development besides causing hardships to lakhs of common people. 

 

This has already caused a deep ‘urban-rural’ divide and it is reflected in the recent General Elections, where the BJP scored exceptionally well in the urban areas, in almost all the cities, although it could not win any parliamentary seat. 

 

While its overall vote percentage share in Punjab was 18.5, in urban areas, it was almost double that. Not surprisingly it fared very badly in the rural areas dominated by the farming/Jatt community.

 

Political parties in Punjab should stop bothering about being politically correct and must take a unanimous and united stand in the interest of the state.

 

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had initially tried to reason it out with the protesting farmers asking them not to harass the general public, but with the opposition Congress and the Akali Dal trying to make political capital out of it, the AAP government also avoided any confrontation with the protesting farmers. 

 

Punjab needs to learn from the West Bengal experience. Supporting the genuine demands of the farmers like a legal guarantee for the MSP and implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendations is fine, but the farmers’ unions must not be allowed to hold the state to ransom. 

 

The repercussions of the prolonged farmers’ protests have started hurting the state's development. Stalling of projects worth Rs 50,000 crores might well be just a beginning if the corrective measures are not taken immediately.

 

Leading industrialists, businessmen and investors even from Punjab have started exploring other options outside the state, thanks to the protests by the farmers’ unions.