Ahead of 2022 UP elections, an interesting new turn being reported amid ongoing farmers’ agitation

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 5

Ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, an interesting new turn is being reported amid the ongoing farmers’ agitation in the state.

Ruling BJP’s rivals are trying to turn the agitation about “rural economy instead of farm economy” by including all non-farmer castes, especially Dalits, who are considered to be core voters of the BJP in the agitation.

A ‘mahapanchayat’ in Bhainswal village in western UP on Friday held a meeting that included members from “all caste and professions” to increase the impact and ambit of the agitation.

Thousands of farmers turned up for the meeting in Shamli district amid a growing clamour against the Centre’s agri-marketing laws in the region.

So far in UP, the farmers’ protests against the three central farm laws have mostly been about ‘Jats’ and ‘Gujjars’, the agricultural land-owning castes. 

Farm policy expert Prof Sudhir Panwar, who belongs to Bhainswal village in Shamli district and is also affiliated with the Samajwadi Party, said participants in today’s meeting included people from Muzzafarnagar, Shamli, Saharnpur and Baghpat districts. 

‘Khaps’ include people of one caste. In those terms, ‘panchayats’ and ‘mahapanchayats’ being organised in the western UP and Haryana region to lend support to the ongoing agitation are largely limited to ‘Jats’ and their ‘khaps’. 

“Non-jats are not participating in the agitation because it is limited to agricultural land owners. In UP, land owners in a village generally belong to one caste, whether ‘Jats’ or ‘Gujjars’. The aim of this new movement is to make it about rural economy instead of farm economy. After all, non-farming castes in a village are also dependent upon farmers for their income,” explains Panwar.  

In those terms, what has happened today has added a new dimension to the ongoing farmers’ agitation.

Non-farming castes, especially Dalits, have of late become core voters of the saffron party and this is the section that leaders of its rivals like the Samajwadi party and the RLD are trying to woo, stressing on “unity among all to protect village economy from pro-corporate policy of BJP governments”.