Mamata Banerjee and her party on Friday celebrated the decision of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre to repeal the three contentious farm laws, hailing it as a victory of the agitating farmers.
“My heartfelt congratulations to every single farmer who fought relentlessly and were not fazed by the cruelty with which @BJP4India treated you. This is YOUR VICTORY!” said the Bengal chief minister in a statement issued on Twitter.
“My deepest condolences to everyone who lost their loved ones in this fight. #FarmLaws,” she added in her post on the microblogging site.
Mamata and the Trinamul Congress had thrown their weight firmly behind the cause of the agitating farmers and the party carried out a slew of programmes since last December. She had sent multiple delegations to meet the protestors on the ground and had spoken to many of them over the phone, lauding them for the movement and expressing solidarity.
“More power to all our FARMERS! Their long and arduous struggle, their grit and determination against all adversities has shown @BJP4India their true place,” tweeted Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who is also Trinamul’s national general-secretary.
“This is the real POWER OF DISSENT in a Democracy and I salute each and every farmer for their courage. #MyIndia,” he added.
After winning her third consecutive term in power, defeating the BJP in Bengal, Mamata had met the Bharatiya Kisan Union leadership, including Rakesh Tikait and Yudhvir Singh, in the state secretariat. Sections of the agitating farmers had actively campaigned against the BJP in Bengal, in the run-up to the Assembly election.
She also had been in regular touch with the Shiromani Akali Dal – one of the oldest NDA allies, which withdrew over the laws – leadership over the movement.
On January 28 this year, the Bengal Assembly passed a resolution demanding the repeal of the farm laws, as the chief minister demanded resignations of the Prime Minister and Union home minister Amit Shah, should they fail to give in to the demands of the agitating farmers.
Sources in Trinamul said Mamata was among the first, last year, to see in the issue, and the protests, an opportunity to politically corner the BJP with a severity it has not experienced since coming to power in 2014.
“She had said in November last year, in several closed-door meetings, that this issue had the potential for becoming the beginning of the end for the BJP. She had said that even the nationwide protests against the citizenship matrix had that potential, but that movement was brought to a grinding halt, most unfortunately, by the Covid-19 outbreak,” said a Trinamul vice-president.
“She had complete faith in the ability of the farmers’ movement to bring the Modi government to its knees before the crucial elections in Uttar Pradesh, more so in the wake of how shaky the BJP became following its Bengal debacle this summer…. She never abandoned the issue, and kept revisiting it in every major public address,” he added. “According to her, now that they are on the retreat, their so-called juggernaut will soon be exposed as a house of cards.”
Trinamul’s national spokesperson Sukhendu Sekhar Roy held a news conference on behalf of the party, demanding a public apology from Modi regarding the death of 700-odd participants in the protests, and calling out the announcement as being “nothing short of a poll gimmick”.
“This is the victory of every farmer’s grit and determination who has shown the government its place. Our farmers have taught India the power of dissent and resilience,” said Rajya Sabha member Roy, going on to demand firm action against the accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.
“Was he (Modi) waiting for this right time, only to mobilise votes?” he asked.
Singur farmers celebrate
Farmers, who had launched an anti-land acquisition movement against the Left regime woven around the proposed Tata Nano car factory in 2008, on Friday celebrated with abir and sweets the victory of farmers after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that his government would repeal the three farm laws.
Jubilant farmers. Amit Kumar Karmakar
The emotive appeal of the Singur farmers’ movement, which Mamata Banerjee had backed, is seen as one of the major forces that put an end to 34 years of Left rule in Bengal and catapulted Mamata to power in the state.
Dudh Kumar Dhara, a known face of the Singur movement and now a Trinamul panchayat samity member, said that the farmers of Singur could relate to Friday’s victory.
“We know how it feels when we get success after a long movement. Today (on Friday) we are recalling the victory that we got in 2008,” said Dhara.
A poem penned by Mamata Banerjee in Bengali, posted on her FB page
Awnnodatadeyr awnnor odhikar
Phiriye ditey hobeyi
Maath — matitey — jomi prantawrey
Krishikhetro jagbeyi
Deerghodineyr andoloneyr phawshol
Tomadeyr jeeboneyr shwapno
Kerey nitey chaileyo byartho hawbey na
Ouddhawtyo — awhonkar bhawgno
Roudro — brishti — jhawrjhawnjhaay
Kawto raat gyachhey periye
Awstror jhawnkar kerey nilo praan
Mritodeho laashknatay joriye.
Tobuto thamoni, thamoni tomra
Lorey gyachho aapon gourawbey
Tai toh aaj joyee holey tomra
Obhinawndon shawngrami
shourawbhey
Translation:
The right to rice of the rice-growers
Must be restored
The field — in the soil — in the land
of the plains
Agriculture will certainly awaken
The harvest of a movement of many days
The dream of your lives
Will not be futile even if they want
to snatch it away
Arrogance — broken vanity
In sunlight — rainfall — storms
So many nights have gone past
The rattling of weapons snatched lives
Cadaver wrapped in corpse-thorns.
Despite that, you did not stop,
stop you didn’t
You kept fighting in your own glory
That is why you are victorious today
Congratulations in the fragrance
of struggle.
