Press Release | February 22, 2023 | Subscribe  

Sikh Farmers of Panjab lead the Protest 2.0 again starting on February 13, 2024!​

Protesting farmers stand facing the police barricade near Shambhu border (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

The American Sikh Council (ASC) is deeply concerned about the thousands of Sikh farmers who have assembled 125 miles outside the capital of India since February 13, 2024 and are being attacked by the Indian paramilitary forces.

Teargas shells being dropped by drones, to being continually shot by rubber bullets and other live ammunition, which have seriously injured hundreds of protestors, with some losing their eyesight. On Feb 20, one young Sikh farmer died who was shot in the head. Further, over a dozen Sikh farmers sleeping in their tractor trolleys were abducted, tortured and had their legs and arms broken by the Indian paramilitary. The completely unarmed peaceful Sikh-Indian farmers are being treated like an invading army by PM Modi, instead of important citizens whose woes need to be addressed with urgency, especially when they represent the overwhelming vote bank. PM Modi has reneged on all the promises made to the farmers in late 2021.

Millions of farmers, farm workers and others participated in the over year-long Farmers Protest in 2020-2021. The Indian Prime Minister Modi capitulated then by rescinding the three illegally formed, anti-farmer laws but only gave verbal assurances on the other long list of grievances. None of those legitimate demands by the protesting farmers were addressed, except pushed down the road.

The 2024 Indian farmers' protest started on the morning of 13 February 2024 to demand the government's guarantee on assured floor prices or Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crop production in a repeat of the 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest. The farmer leaders have continued the negotiations with the Modi government even before the actual protest started and held at least four meetings, but yielded nothing.

Instead of allowing the farmers to vent their genuine frustrations by listening to them the Indian PM has erected massive cement boulders with spikes on top, barbed wire, metal blocks, loaded trucks, road rollers, bulldozers, sonic weapons such as ‘sound cannons’ and much more, used to barricade the border points. Every day, new (il)legal impositions with severe penalties are being circulated through social media in order to curtail the right to assemble and protest.

On February 19, 2024, The Modi regime offered price support for some pulses, corn, and cotton in an attempt to end the deadlock and reach an agreement with the protesting farmers.

The actual demands of the protesting farmers currently are as follows:

Financial Security:

• Guaranteed Income: Farmers above 60 years of age, are demanding a monthly pension of $120.
• Minimum Wages under MGNREGA: Protesters are seeking fixed daily wages for agricultural work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The proposed wage is $8.50 per day with a guarantee of 200 days of work annually.
• Agro-Industry Integration: Farmers seek better integration with the agro-industry to bypass intermediaries and secure direct market access. They aim to establish farmer-producer organizations, enabling collective bargaining power, fair pricing, and reduced dependency on middlemen.

Market Support:

• Legal Guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for All Crops: The central demand of the protest is a legal framework guaranteeing MSP for all agricultural produce. Currently, the government announces MSP for only a select few crops, leaving others vulnerable to market fluctuations and potentially lower prices. A legal guarantee would provide farmers with more stable and predictable income.
• Implementation of Swaminathan Committee Recommendations: The protestors seek the implementation of the recommendations made by the M.S. Swaminathan Committee; a committee formed in 2006 to address agricultural issues in India. The committee's report proposes various measures to improve farmers' income and welfare, including improved infrastructure, investment in research and development, and market reforms.
• Pensions for farmers, loan waivers, and withdrawal of India from the World Trade Organization.

Other Demands:

• Along with this demand, farmers also ask for the withdrawal of cases registered during the last agitation in 2020-21.
• Justice for Lakhimpur Kheri Violence where a sitting Hindu member of parliament (BJP) purposely ran over and killed several Sikh farmers.
• The farmers also insist that the government ensure at least fifty percent profit over their overall cost of production.
• The farmers also want the government to honor a promise to double their incomes, complaining that costs of cultivation have jumped over the past few years while incomes have stagnated, making farming a loss-making enterprise.

Even though the national elections are in April 2024, the Indian PM does not seem perturbed to lose over 60% of the national vote bank by his belligerent attitude towards the farmers, unless of course he is going to use the infamous ‘electronic voting machines - EVMs’ to do the magic trick and get himself in office again. The farmers and the common Indian citizens are aware of the sleight of hand being performed by the emperor of Delhi to remain in power. Even the electoral commission is now controlled by the PM to skew the process in his own favor.

Every civil right, right to assemble, right to protest peacefully, right to speech, etc., are all being curtailed violently in the world’s largest democracy. This mockery of a thriving republic must be called out vociferously. If PM Modi wins the next election in April, the last vestiges of democracy will disappear and the religious minorities will be permanently relegated to second class citizens with little chance of justice. Farmers are and have been treated very unfairly during Modi’s ten-year tenure.

It is critical to uphold the rights of the farmers to peaceful protest, hold accountable those responsible for the various violations and engage in honest negotiations to address their demands.

As of February 22, 2024 according to news outlets, the Modi regime is planning to use the draconian National Security Act (NSA) laws which would enable the state to detain a citizen preventively, which could include all the protest leaders by threatening to seize their bank accounts, properties, etc., in order to scuttle and stop the massive peaceful dissent.

The American Sikh Council (ASC) implores the State Department, The US Congress and the White House to intervene and condemn the abuse of international laws and the ongoing human right violations against the peaceful farmers on the outskirts of the capital of India. ASC stands steadfastly for the rights of all farmers who continues to raise their voices in their struggle for equitable agricultural renumeration. 

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The American Sikh Council is the umbrella organization representative of Sikhs in the United States. It is an elected body of Sikh Gurdwaras and institutions. Currently 76 Gurdwaras and other Sikh institutions across the nation are members of ASC. The major governing purpose of the organization is to represent the collective view of Sikhs in the United States. ASC works to promote Sikh interests at the national and international level focusing on issues of advocacy, education, and well-being of humankind.

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