farmers

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis

Poonam Mahajan

Do Bigha Zameen

Shambhu Mahato

Balraj Sahni

ByEven before 30,000 peacefully protestingfrom Nashik and its environs arrived in the city,had dismissed 95 per cent of them as not being “technically” farmers; and, MP, had fumed that they had been “captured by the Maoists”, thus depriving them of agency.This is an old government trick used to deflect blame. It was used in Rohith Vemula’s case by “proving” he was not a dalit; therefore his suicide was not a case of caste discrimination but personal discontent. Similarly, if the farmers weren’t technically farmers, the government was not to blame if they had marched 180 km on blistered feet under the merciless sun to make demands which, rightfully, only those who were technically farmers should make. The protesters, understandably angered by this casual dismissal of their long-standing grievances, did not see that the word “technically” was used to put Adivasis in their place. Certainly tribals, the first inhabitants of this sub-continent, did cultivate land and grow things. Certainly, the activity was called farming. But that didn’t make them “technically” farmers. Farmers are people whose lands are registered in official records as theirs, whatever the means of acquisition. There are many means besides ancestral ownership by which land is possessed. Fat-bellied moneylenders practise them all the time. They grab the lands of poor farmers who cannot repay small loans which have meanwhile swollen to monstrous figures by the alchemical process of compound interest; and hey presto! they are farmers.In Bimal Roy’s) runs the skin off his feet pulling a rickshaw to make enough money to save his land from the zamindarmoneylender’s jaw. The zamindar wants to set up a factory on his land; but his land encircles Mahato’s two bighas. The zamindar has offered to buy the land. Mahato has refused to sell it. The zamindar, blinded by his wealth and vision of development, cannot believe that Mahato doesn’t see his land as a saleable commodity. Small as it is, he sees it as his link with his culture, his history, his people. It is his identity, his insurance for life. So be it says the zamindar. I have other ways of forcing you to sell. The zamindar wins. Mahato’s tragedy has been repeated thousands of times over the last few years in our country. Our Mahatos have quietly drunk poison to put finis to the painful business of living. Are we ashamed? Nonsense. Farmers commit suicide because they are psychologically infirm. Thus spake a politician.For many years now, the Marathi press has used the word Baliraja as a collective noun for farmers. You won’t find the word in the dictionary. But we all know who Baliraja was and what happened to him. He was a good Asura king; but according to the Manusmriti, Asuras stood on the lowest rung of the ladder of virtue. The highest was reserved for Devas and brahmins. Bali was an ardent devotee of Vishnu. In the ashwamedh sacrifice which he conducted, he offered gifts to brahmins. Afraid of the power the sacrifice would confer on him, the Devas went to Vishnu for succour. Vishnu attended the sacrifice as Vamana, his dwarf avatar, a mendicant brahmin. Vamana asked Bali for a boon instead of material gifts. He wanted as much land as he could cover in three steps. Bali granted him the boon. After all, how much land could a dwarf cover in three steps? But this dwarf grew to cosmic proportions. He covered the earth with the first step, the heavens with the second and asked where he might put his foot for the third. Bali offered him his head. Vamana stepped on it and pushed him down to the netherworld. Then, remembering Bali’s devotion to him, Vishnu granted him permission to return to his kingdom on earth once a year. We are told Vamana was born to restore the cosmic balance. He restored it by “acquiring” twothirds of the universe, leaving Bali with the one-third that no Deva would want to own.Our own Baliraja has now returned home, happy with the “written assurance” the Devas have given him that arrangements will be made for his survival. Let us see how much weight the assurance carries. Meanwhile the CM has finalised plans to build the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Mahamarg (prosperity highway) for which the State will acquire around 21,000 acres of productive land belonging to Baliraja. Ms Poonam Mahajan will be very shocked if Baliraja protests.