Panjabi Sikh farmers revolt and BJP/Hinduva corporatisation: Challenges and solutions

For weeks we have seen unpresented scenes of an estimated 1 million farmers, mostly from the Panjab, but also Haryana, UP and Rajasthan, laying siege on Delhi, the national capital of India. Their demand is simple, the withdrawal of the 3 Faming Ordinances that were passed by the BJP Government that in their opinion will lead to the corporate takeover of the farming sector and an end to their way of life.

In response, the government is claiming that the opposite will be the case and that the farmers have nothing to fear.  They argue that the Panjab farmers refusing to change with the times, that they have simply misunderstood the policy, which is about reforming an old system that is not fit for the needs of a modern global industrial economy.

So who is right and what might be the imprecations for adopting the neoliberal corporate model favoured by the Modi Government, and what alternatives do the Panjabi farmers have?

According to the World Bank, in 1987, the GDP of India was similar to that of China; in 2019, China’s GDP was almost 5 times greater than India’s and this rate of growth has established China as the 2nd largest economy in the world. Since coming to power in 2014 and then again with a landslide victory in 2019, the Narendra Modi BJP Government in India has clearly been troubled by the relative lack of economic development.

Whilst distancing himself from what he regards as an ’authoritarian’ Chinese system, Modi has sought to extoll what he sees are the democratic and anti-imperial virtues of India. In this context, he regularly argues India is not interested in emulating China and that his government has its own unique plan for economic development. Ironically, despite his boasts of upholding liberal democratic principles, many of his policies, such as the Citizen Amendment Act and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act both passed in 2019 or the 3 farmers ordinances recently passed under the cover of COVID 19, paint a different picture.

Narendra Modi’s plan to turn India into an economic giant is largely built around a policy of economic liberalisation and large scale privatisation of public services and assets of the economy. Ironically, just as the neoliberal model seems to have reached its zenith, first with the collapse of the banks in 2008 and more recently, with the impact of COVID 19 and the massive intervention of states, Modi is forging ahead with his plan to open up India to corporate neoliberal capitalism.

Underpinning these policies is a deeper ideological imperative encapsulated in the Hindutva nationalist idea to promote a national identity, both cultural and economy. This is captured in a speech given by Narendra Modi during the India Republic Day speech on August 15, 2019.  In the context of the revocation of the special status, or limited autonomy, granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir, he talked about the necessity to build  ‘One nation, One Constitution, One system’!

Whether one adopts a state capitalist approach taken by China, or a neoliberal US style model, economic success is intimately linked to rapid cultural transformation, of which perhaps the farming sector, especially small scale domestic farming, will be most impacted.

Despite the Green Revolution and associated technological advances in farming, both Panjab is still largely a rural state with over 65% of farms classed as small or semi-medium. In others words, small scale farming remains the backbone of the Panjabi economy and culture clearly any policy that threatens this will lead to an unprecedented existential threat for the farmers and other sectors, such labourers, middlemen, book-keepers, transporters, small shopkeepers and traders. Backing these claims, former World Bank chief and Indian economist, Kaushik Basu has been quoted as suggesting the new farm bills are flawed and they will end up serving corporate interests more than farmers. For Basu, the ordinances are ill thought out and are “a ‘good-looking’ step in a ‘bad direction’ and may lead to crony capitalism and eventual financial instability”.

IMPACT OF INDUSTRIALISATION

One of the arguments being made by the Modi government is the need to accelerate India’s development and competitive edge in the global  economy.  Inevitably, tied to achieving efficiencies of scale as well as opening up new non-agricultural employment is the process of modernisation and industrialisation. This represents the process of change that leads to social, economic and cultural transformation from an agrarian society into an industrial society. Most significantly, this involves extensive re-organisation of work and the economy for the purpose of manufacturing and mass production, storage and distribution.

The first transformation from an agricultural to an industrial economy is known as the Industrial Revolution and took place from the mid-18th to early 19th century in certain areas in Europe and North America. This lead to huge changes in the social structure, the main one being a transition from farm work to factory related activities. Amongst other things, this had huge disruptive effects on peoples personal lives and prosperity. It distorted the family system as most people were compelled to move from villages and rural areas into the rapidly growing cities. The role of women shifted from essentially being home cares to employed workers, which also has an impact on reducing the number of children per household.

In the 1950’s the American Sociologist Talcott Parsons noted that in pre-industrial societies there existed extended family structures spanning many generations, who largely remained in the same geographical location; In industrialised context, because children reaching adulthood are more mobile and tend to relocate to where jobs exist, extended family bonds become more tenuous and social solidarity becomes weakened. It could be argued that such changes have been happening amongst Panjabis in the diaspora for decades.

RESISTANCE TO INDUSTRIALISATION AND CORPORATISM

Along with the move towards industrialisation and particularly capitalist imperialism,  there has been resistance, which as at best resulted in revolution, stopping the changes and significant concessions or significant defeat of the resistance. Prof Pritam Singh from Oxford University has recently argued that there is a need to contextualise the current farmers’ revolt against agro-business capitalism whose interests are being articulated by the Modi regime, it is critical to understand the meaning of the idea of the ‘vanguard’. This is an idea that was coined by the Russian revolutionary leader Leninist who argued that in any revolutionary struggle, vanguardism is a strategy where leadership comes from class-conscious and politically advanced sections of the proletariat.

In every egalitarian movement, Singh argues, there is one section which is the most advanced and provides that leadership which articulates the interests, aspirations and even emotions of other revolting sections of society. Accordingly, In today’s India, the Punjabi and Haryanvi farmers represent the vanguard of the entire farming community in India and other sections of society associated directly or indirectly with farming (even the urban middle class consuming food produced by  these farmers and farm workers).

Though the focus of the current movement is on the issue of farming, a noted at the outset of this article, a closer examination of Panjabi history reveals a deep rooted culture of resistance against imperialism and oppression, be it economic, cultural or physical. From the Punjabi Sufi poets such as Shah Hussain and Bulleh Shah, who spoke vehemently against religious clergy, Hindu and Muslim alike, to the folk hero Dullah Bhatti, who took up arms against the Mogul Emperor Akbar to protect the revenue from his land.

And of course, any discussion on Punjabi identity, as Prof Puran Singh notes, is empty without reference to the intervention of the Sikh Gurus. When Puran Singh wrote that ‘ann da swaad we naam da swaad hai’ (the pleasure that comes from eating grain is the same pleasure that comes with Naam) he was highlighting the fact that even daily eating of grain in Punjab is considered heavenly because as the tongue tastes it, our words and thoughts are divinely transformed. As well as cementing the relationship between the farmer, the land and the divine, Guru Nanak, by seeking to dissolve fixed religious identities, superstitious beliefs and caste oppression, commenced what has been termed the ‘Sikh revolution’.

This was a continuous revolution that was advanced by each of the 10 Gurus, culminating with  Guru Gobind Singh led an armed revolt against murderous rule of emperor Aurangzeb, which led to the rise of Banda Singh Bahadur and the first Khalsa rule in 1709 and eventual destruction of the Mogul Empire. In terms of the present day Panjabi farmers struggle there is an intimate link to this period for it was Banda Singh Bahadur who abolished the Zamindari and Taluqdari system gave the peasant farmers proprietorship of their own land, the same land that their decedents are trying to defend from the corporates.

And of course, it this same revolutionary spirit that infused the Panjabi contribution to the struggle against British Imperialist during the first half of the 20^th Century resulting in the massive dipropionate contribution in the independence movement and the immortalisation of figures such as,  Kartar Singh Sarabha, Udham Singh and Bhagat Singh, who were all put to death for challenging British imperialism.

TURNING THE CURRENT SITUATION IN INDIA

By the end of the 20th century, East Asia (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Hong King) had become one of the most recently industrialised regions of the world.  And for the past 30 years we have seen the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) undergoing dramatic process of industrialisation.

The 3 farming ordinances passed by the BJP government represent a wider an attempt by Modi to emulate the success of China in its transformation from a rural peasant economy. The rural population of India is currently over 70%, though there has been a slow decline over the past 20 years.  Contrast this to China, where today the majority of the people live in Urban settings, the rural population has declined from 52 to 40% in the past 10 years.

But there is one fundamental difference between India and China. Whereas modern India was envisaged as a nation of nations, where diversity in terms of ethnicity, religion and language was celebrated. In contrast, under the Han dynasty and later under Communism, a singular culture was forged through a policy of extreme homogenisation, which included mass killings, forced migrations, erasure off intellectual diversity, and monopolisation of history writing. The latest example is the case of over 1 million Uighur Muslims, who are currently being subjected to what the Chinese authorities euphemistically term ‘re-education’.

SO, WHERE DOES PANJAB GO IN THIS CURRENT SCENARIO? A 10-POINT PLAN. 

Whilst the political situation on the ground is unstable there is no doubt that there is no return to the status quo and we are looking at a completely transformed landscape when it comes both to the internal politics of Panjab and the relations between the centre and Panjab and indeed, other states of India. So what concrete steps can we take to ensure a future for Panjab? Below I offer a 10 point strategy as a basis for encourage some progressive solutions towards a non-violent revolution.

4) Though the detail of an alternative approach to the centralising Hinduva Nationalist policy of will need to be decided by the citizens of Panjab, here are some suggestions for the underpinning principles, which are based on the deep philosophical traditions of our Guru’s, Suffi’s and Bhagat’s, such as:

• ‘Kirat Karni’ – Valuing and encouraging Honest labour – intellectual and manual. Minimal wage, ethical employment practices etc.
• ‘Wand Shakna’ – controls on wealth accumulation through progressive taxation and universal public services and education.
• ‘Namm Japan’ – Stimulation of the mind. Education system that nurtures holistic world view.
• ‘Pavan Guru’: Air, pollution, environmental concerns.
• ‘Pani pita’ – Clean and reliable water supply – massive investments in recycling and sewerage treatment.
• ‘Mata Dharat’ – Massive move towards organic farming, indigenous farming, diversification of crops.

5) Along with these overarching philosophical principles, I suggest we need to radically change the crops that are grown to give Panjabi farmers greater economic returns whilst maintaining the fertility of the land. Since India is now self-sufficient in terms of wheat and rice, two of the most common crops in Panjab, farmers could be move away from feeding mass market to niche market on an international scale. Take for example the turmeric (curcumin) market, which in the US has gone from 40 million dollars to 100 million dollars in the last 8 years and worldwide from 2.7 billion dollars to 5 billion dollars today.

6) We should seek to massively expanded is the service sector and tourism. Panjab has plenty of sun, a rich historical and cultural legacy, and it is the gateway to states like Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh for tourist destinations. However, despite these assets the state has not been successful in attracting visitors from other parts of the country or abroad.

7) One of the factors that has suffocated development of Panjab is the proximity to the Pakistan border on the West and the natural barrier of the Himalayan mountains to North and East. Work towards opening up the Panjab Pakistan border as well as opening up routes through and beyond Kashmir in to Central Asia and China, could have transformative effects on confidence, peace, investment, tourism and trade.

8) Because of modern technology, small scale faming in its present form simply is not economically viable and maintain the status quo is no solution. Because of its location and the green revolution, Panjab has come late to the process of industrialisation. But the lack of heavy industrialisation of Panjab provides an opportunity not to repeat the mistakes of the industrialised west and the attendant cultural and environmental devastation.

9) We need to recognise that the ‘green-revolution’ has been an ecological disaster for Panjab and we need to learn the lessons. In doing so there is a need to develop a new economic model – eco-cooperative model. Panjab can be an experiment of a state that has given directly from a rural economy to a green high-tech economy.

10) There is a need to establish a Green Panjab Investment Bank that can provide funds for social enterprises and also farmers co-ops. The Panjabi diaspora can help massively – they have invested in the past in property and land and they will invest in the future, but they must have confidence in integrity of systems, processes and governance.

A FINAL THOUGHT!

Where the current crisis might end up is anybody’s guess, but there are signs that both sides are digging in for the long run. Unless PM Modi commits the mistake of launching some kind of violent repression, in which case we may well see the break-up of India, then some kind of short term deal, where each side claims victory, is the most likely scenario. However, as the history of Panjab and the Sikhs shows, most imperial rulers have lived to regret picking a fight with a people for whom death is desirable to a life of bondage and slavery. Ironically, in his haste to get the 3 ordinances through under the cover of COVID 19, and having secured the patronage of much of the mainstream political class of Panjab, including both the Akali Dal and Congress, he may just have awoken a sleeping lion that, if history is to be believed, may just end up destroying him his Hinduva Neoliberal project.