The Fourth National Conference of All India Kisan Mahasabha was held across two days in Bikramganj of Bihar, and concluded with a call to strengthen farmers’ unity and the movement to carry forward farmers’ struggles against the betrayal of Modi government and non-fulfillment of promises made after the successful year-long Delhi agitation. Hundreds of delegates from various states as well as representatives from many constituent organisations, including Punjab Kisan Union, Satyashodhak Shetkari Sabha, Shramik Shetkari Sangathan and Jalla Kisan Sangharsh Samiti attended the conference which re-elected Ruldu Singh and Rajaram Singh as its National President and General Secretary, respectively.
The conference venue was named in honour Kripal Singh Bir, a senior AIKM leader who passed away in Punjab last month; whereas the dais of the conference was named after martyred Comrade Bhaiyyaram Yadav. Comrade Kripal Bir represented a generation of farmers’ leaders who fought and won land rights during the historic Mujara Struggle in Punjab. Even at the age of 90 years, he stood firmly with the farmers at the Tikri Border against Modi’s three farm laws.
The Conference began on September 23rd with a ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’, which was attended by thousands of farmers and addressed by eminent farmers leaders and representatives of fraternal organisations, including All India Kisan Sabha president Ashok Dhawale, Narmada Bhachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar, Terai Kisan Sangathan leader Tejinder Singh Virk, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti leader Dr. Sunilam and many others, while CPIML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya inaugurated the conference.
The Mahapanchayat reiterated the demands of the farmers in the country which included a legally mandated MSP with C2+50 formula for all crops, extension of PDS for all poor and guaranteeing food security for all, along with Bihar farmers’ long-pending demands for rejuvenating Sone Canal System and building of Kadawan Dam.
In his inaugural speech, Comrade Dipankar said that the government has no dearth of money but that money collected as taxes from the common people is being spent to fill the coffers of greedy corporates like Adani and Ambani. He said that the government is not giving minimum support price to farmers, nor minimum wages to workers, whereas corporates and capitalists have sell at maximum retail price, which is injustice. Com. Dipankar called upon the farmers present in the Mahapanchayat to spread the message of the farmers’ struggle of Delhi borders to the villages of Bihar, in the past, this has always been the place where people’s movements have given a new turn in the politics of the country. The struggle led by Bihar’s poor and middle peasants and sharecropper farmers also effectively counters BJP’s false propaganda that the farmers’ movement represented only the rich farmers.
He added that Modi government is fulfilling the vested interests of its crony corporates by facilitating corporate takeover of Indian agriculture as well as handing them out all the country’s resources and institutions. But in the last year, the farmers had shown their strength by forcing the government to withdraw three ordinances that facilitated corporate land grab and then against the three anti-farmer laws. This unity and struggle must be strengthened and expended to all the farmers and all the workers in the country for bringing a revolutionary change.
Leader of Narmada Bhachao Andolan – Medha Patkar said that we must fight back to protect our agriculture and environment. We must oppose corporate companies which are trying to snatch away the produce of farmers. And now a huge population is being deprived of basic rights like education and health, while big corporates are endangering the whole of humanity by damaging our environment and ecosystem. We are being ruled by those who had opposed and insulted our tricolour in the past, but the farmers have proved that only peoples’ movement have power to give a befitting reply to such anti-people regimes.
Ashok Dhawale of AIKS called for a wider movement against the government allowing the corporates to loot country’s resources under the pressure of WTO and other world institutions. He said that the three farm laws were enacted for the same reason, but the movement forced the Modi government to withdraw them. He also demanded from the Bihar government to implement the Bihar Tenancy Act and the recommendations of the Land Reforms Commission. Dr. Sunilam emphasized on need for a strong movement to save the democracy from those sowing the seeds of communal poison in society. He condemned the Lakhimpur Kheri administration for the attempts of building up communal atmosphere against the Sikh community in that district. Tejinder Singh Virk of Terai Kisan Sangathan said that the farmers will only be able to do profitable farming when the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission are implemented, and complete loan waiver for all farmers is declared, hence we all must work to spread the movement further. Cultural team Hirawal presented revolutionary songs during the Mahapanchayat.
The Mahapanchayat organisers honoured all the guests by presenting mementoes, which included leaders from fraternal organisations, and dozens of activists who dedicatedly organised camps, libraries and medical help at various Delhi borders during the farmers’ agitation. The AIKM Conference continued till the next day which was attended by farmers representatives from UP, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, MP, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and other states. The conference was presided over by a presidium comprising Ruldu Singh Mansa, Prem Singh Gahalawat, KD Yadav, Phoolchand Dhewa, Shiv Sagar Sharma, Manju Devi, Ishwari Prasad Kushwaha, D Harinath and Kripa Verma. Rajaram Singh presented the work report before the delegates and Sudama Prasad read out the resolutions of the conference, which were unanimously adopted. The conference concluded after the election of new National Executive and office bearers with the resolve to take the farmers’ movement to new heights by strengthening the struggles with emphasis on the needs of poor peasants, sharecroppers and middle peasants and to fight out the current regime which has imposed an agrarian crisis over the nation. The Bikramganj town was decorated in honour of farmer delegates with flags, banners and welcome gates remembering martyrs and leaders of farmers’ struggles for the successful national conference.
