By Malahat Zafar
‘Ye Inquilab hai sir’ insists the peaceful protestor at the Farmer’s rights protest. Inquilab (revolution). Something about this word holds immense power. I ask myself why Inquilab?
Immediately I am plunged into the past: a rigorous discussion in politics class. Governments draw authority from the people. The force of people gives the government the right to rule. I argue: in case the government is not behaving according to the will of the people, they possess the right to withdraw their support, reclaim their rights and authority from the ruling government. The government has no credibility without the support of the people.
On 26 th November 2020, two hundred and fifty million Indians farmers from states of Uttar
Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab participated to peacefully protest the new farm bills which
abolish one key aspect of Minimum Set Price (MSP) leaving millions of agricultural workers
at the mercy of large corporations.
These bills are unfair and undemocratic. The government has chosen to favour the interests of large corporations, the one percent against the interests of half of the country’s agricultural
population. Democracy is ‘a government of people, by the people, for the people’.
Democracy promises to represent the majority, the vulnerable, the ones who suffer at the
hands of the few. Most importantly it promises to be just.
History repeats itself. Yes, it repeats itself because we refuse to learn from it. Its almost eerie, revolutions in the past tore down ancient dynasties who refused to acknowledge rights of the working class: the peasants, the proletariat. The authority all of a sudden had no credibility even with the support of the one percent whose interests they were protecting, Almost as if they drew their power of authority from the ones they placed the lowest. Almost as if the working class reclaimed rights which were originally theirs.
Inquilab Zindabad! (Long live the Revolution). Did the government forget its ties to this very
slogan? Verily they reflect the roots of its very existence. Did it forget the sacrifice of
revolutionaries the likes of Bhagat Singh who fought for the dream of India’s independence
and right to become an independent sovereign democracy? Doubtless the farmers are asking for their rights. Rights they deserve and were promised under democracy. Why is the
government then labelling them as terrorists? Indeed, this is Inquilab, a revolution to protect
democratic principles, a peaceful revolution and a one which is right and fair. A revolution
which transcends man made borders and religious beliefs, the fight for humanity, the fight to
which we owe our duty.
References:
Agrawal. Ravi, 2020, Why India’s Farmers Are Protesting?, Foreign Policy
Main image: A farmer’s mouth is covered with tape which reads, ‘walking on the footsteps of Gandhi, I am on hunger strike’ at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh state border.
Photograph by :Altaf Qadri/AP
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