Farmer's Turban

 

Ninja Policeman in India charging on 80 year old Farmer

Something is morally wrong with the image of a young Indian policeman wearing protective guards and helmet hitting an 80 year old unarmed farmer during the farmers protest against the now publically tarnished farm bills. The policemen is demonstrating his trained skills to subdue the comman man with brute force. 

So, whats wrong with this picture? Authoritarian oppresssion displayed in this picture reminds me of the 1907 ballad of defiance penned over a century ago to inspire farmers against the expoitive policies of the British. Punjab farmers who have dig in their heels against Centre at Delhi’s borders are experiencing the same oppression, propoganda, and malice sadly from their own government in an independent India. 

The similarities between the two historical events is astounding and worth a discussion here. Farmers from Punjab, Haryna, and Western UP feel that farm laws passed by Indian parliament will ultimately force them to forfeit their farm land to the large corporations. 

Farmers Protest of 1907

1907 Farmer Protest  Lyallpur

It was a similar grouse that fueled the farm protests in 1907. Farmers felt threatened by the Colonisation Act that they said would reduce owners to contract workers on their own land. Farmers, especially in and around district Lyallpur (now in west Punjab), who were given forest land by the British to develop were being told that the government will take back the allotted land under the Act.

In 1879, the British government constructed a canal to draw water from the Chenab river to Lyallpur (now Faisalabad, West Punjab). The canal was called the Upper Bari Doab Canal. This was done to setup settlements in an uninhabited area. Also, the Britishers promised allotment of free land with several amenities. This included ex-serviceman from Amritsar, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur as well. Therefore, the peasants from these districts left behind their land and property and settled in the new areas to make the barren land fit for cultivation. 

British Opression of Indian farmers

The hardworking farmers quickly made the land fertile. The British government enacted three laws that ultimately declared the Britishers the master of the land and denied the ownership rights of the peasants. The laws reduced the farmers to leaseholders. They could neither build houses nor fell trees on these lands. The laws also said that if the eldest son died before reaching adulthood, then the land will become the property of Government and not reach the younger son. This led to the Pagri Sambhal Jatta movement.

As unrest started brewing against the colonial rulers, Bhagat Singh‘s father, Kishan Singh, and uncle, Ajit Singh, and their revolutionary friend Ghasita Ram had formed Bharat Mata Society with an ultimate aim to spark a revolt against British government.

Pagri Sambhal Jatta

‘Pagri Sambhal Jatta’, a song penned by Banke Dayal, the editor of Jhang Sayal, was introduced at a peasants rally in Lyallpur in 1907. It soon became an anthem that defined the farmers’ agitation against three British laws – the Doab Bari Act, Punjab Land Colonisation Act and the Punjab Land Alienation Act.

Over a 100 years ago, just after the Lala Lajpat Rai addressed a gathering of protesting farmers on March 3, 1907, Banke Dayal read out his historic composition ‘Pagrhi Sambhal Jatta’ in front of the assembly. The song not only defined that agitation, but has since got embedded in the Punjabi psyche as a chant of resistance in the fight for one’s honour even against seemingly insurmountable odds.

Pagri (turban) was the key symbol in that poem which reflected self-respect for the warrior farmers. After that meeting, the farmers embarked on a collision course against the British administration, which had nursed the idea of disciplining its subjects (farmers/peasants) from Chenab Colony. The contentious measure which is the focus of our study is the colonists’ bid to discipline their subjects and the sharp reaction that it evoked is the theme of today’s column.

The tales of that unrest led by Bhagat Singh’s uncle, Ajit Singh, continue to inspire the current protesters who refuse to budge in their fight against the Union government.

United Farmers from Punjab, Haryana and UP 

The Educated Farmer

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet ministers clim that the innocent farmers of Punjab, Haryana, and Wester UP are misled and instigated by the opposition parties. 

Just like farmers protesting today, activists back in1907 had decided to first read the bills thoroughly before protesting. In his autobiography, ‘Buried Alive’, Ajit Singh wrote that their first plan which was “to study these bills and understand them fully. Thus, we studied the bills in detail and fully acquainted ourselves with the implications of these acts and their detrimental effect on the peasantry”.

With protests simmering in Punjab, farmer activists would organise meetings at different centres in Lahore from morning till evening. Those meetings were addressed mostly by Kishan Singh and Ghasita Ram, and activists were sent to Lyallpur district to explain to the public the harm these measures would do to them.

Elders of Punjab Farmers

The 2020 farmers protest is being led by educated and mature farmer's union leaders. The flowing white beards of Babey, the Sikh elders and handlebar mustache of Taus, the Haryan elders have calmed the youthful exhuburence so far. 

The younger generation is listening to the elders and contributing on social media and IT cells to counter propoganda by the government agencies.

Young Farmer on Social Media

Amendment to Pacify Farmers

Another interesting parallel is that British had made minor amendment in the laws after seeing the resentment in public. Narendra Modi government too seems willing to consider tweaking the farm laws to put a lid on the ongoing protests.

In his article, published in the daily ‘Pipal’ in 1931, Bhagat Singh wrote that a public meeting was called in Lyallpur on March 3, 1907. According to Bhagat Singh, “Just before this meeting, Lala ji told Ajit Singh that government has made some amendments in colony act. In the gathering, while thanking government for this amendment, we should request government to cancel the whole law. However, Ajit Singh made it clear to Lala ji that the agenda of meeting was to inspire the public to stop paying agri-taxes.”

Ajit Singh had noted that earlier Lala ji was not willing to join the agitation based on the assumption that this was not limited to farm unrest. This, he had noted, was true as the real aim of the movement was to ignite a revolt against the British.

How did It End in 1907?

The Pagri Sambhal Jatta movement began to spread from the peasants to the Army. The 2020 farmer agitation has remained largely non-violent. The British, however, had to face violence in 1907.“There were riots in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore etc. British personnel were manhandled, mud was flung at them, offices and churches were burnt, telegraph poles and wires cut.The Superintendent of Police, Phillips, in Lahore was beaten by rioters. British civil servants sent their families to Bombay and ships were chartered to take them to England if the situation got worse. Some families were transferred to forts,” wrote Ajit Singh.

He further recorded:”(General) Lord Kitchener got terrified since peasantry was becoming rebellious, military and police were unreliable. (John) Morely (then secretary of state for India) made a statement in the House of Commons that in all 33 meetings took place in the Punjab, out of which 19 were addressed by Sardar Ajit Singh." The British arrested Sardar Ajit Sigh and exiled him out of India.

The result of all this agitation was that all the three bills were cancelled,” wrote Ajit Singh. And thus, the British government withdrew its laws. It also returned the ownership of the land to the peasants.

Lets hoope sanity prevails in Delhi and its leadership is mature enough to understand the emotive concerns of farmers. PM Modi should learn form the history and stop trying to resist or subvert the people's movement. Afterall the government is for the people it serves.

Reference

A similar blog is written by talented young writer Sangeet Toor.

• https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-recalling-pagri-sambhal-jatta-movement-and-what-connects-two-farmer-movements-in-punjab-separated-by-over-a-100-years-7094916/
• https://www.gktoday.in/current-affairs/what-is-pagri-sambhal-jatta-movement/
• https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/562862-pagri-sambhal-o-jatta
• https://thewire.in/history/sardar-ajit-singh-freedom-fighter-who-died-the-day-independent-india-was-born
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1907_Punjab_unrest