The protest against three soon to be repealed agro-marketing laws has become one of India’s longest and most important movements in modern times. TOI’s Neel Kamal writes about highlights of unrest and how farmers still resist as PSM remains on the agenda
How did a 2-day call to protest turn into a one-year saga?
When the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordinating Committee (AIKSCC), an organization made up of 200 farm organizations, called for a two-day protest in Delhi on November 26-27, 2020, no one expected this call to open. the path to forming one of the biggest and greatest wrestling movements in modern India, making agricultural protest history.
A year later, the sustained struggle against contentious agricultural laws turned into a headache for the BJP-led central government, as the protest not only made its presence felt across the country, but its echo was echoed. been heard in several foreign countries where Indians, in particular the Punjabis, are settled as immigrants.

According to insiders, it was a routine call to show anger at the central government after little came out of the two rounds of talks – the first being held on October 14, 2020 with the secretary of state. ‘Union Agriculture where the farmers had walked out of the meeting. after finding no minister, and the second with Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Trade Minister Piyush Goyal on November 13, 2020.
Government denial of permission and the way the Haryana government dug trenches, placed rocks on highways to prevent protesters from marching any further and Delhi police preventing them from entering the capital national made all the difference.
As the saying goes that when oppression increases, oppressed sections surrender or further strengthen their resolve to fight. The farmers chose the latter and decided to follow the line “Mannu saadi daatri asi manu de soe, jyon jyon sanu vadh’da asi doon savae hoye” (Mannu is our sickle, we are the fodder he has to mow, more he cuts, the bigger we get), describing the barbarism of the Mughal governor of Punjab Muin-Ul-Mulk also known as Mir Mannu from 1748 to 1753.
“When the central government sensed that the situation was difficult, the diplomacy of the secondary route was accelerated. Key central agencies have been called upon to sniff out when farm leaders can prepare to deal with the problem. These activities, however, have not yielded the expected results, ”said reliable sources within the farmer groups.
After failing to find a middle way and the losses caused by the events in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3, the government began to make up its mind to follow the line that farmers were sitting for at the Delhi borders, sources added.
For rly and NHAI, the mixture costs 3,600
Once the president gave his assent to farm laws on September 27, 2020, the call by farm unions to block rail lines and free toll plazas proved costly for transportation services in this part of the country, the Public Treasury and companies operating toll stations.
Rail services were off track for three weeks. Just as freight trains resumed on October 22, 2020, railways again suspended services in the state after farmers stopped an empty passenger train in Faridkot district and besieged a train in the silo of a group of companies in the village of Dagru near Moga.
To go further, BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) disrupted the rail tracks outside two independent power plants (IPP) – Talwandi Sabo Power Limited in Mansa and Nabha Power Limited near Rajpura. Rail services did not resume until the first week of November that year. At that time, however, the Indian Railway claimed to have suffered a huge loss of Rs 2,400 crore in freight and passenger charges.
Toll plazas, on the other hand, continue to suffer losses as they have not been allowed to collect the toll since October 1, 2020. According to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the disruption of toll plazas caused a loss of over Rs. 1200 crore in 14 months.
The social impact of the demonstration is felt by the people residing near the houses of the leaders of the BJP. Residents said farmers continuously used loudspeakers and blocked the streets, so students and elders suffered the most. The businessman who had rented gas pumps from companies also suffered losses, as did shopping malls run by companies.