Village land belongs to us: Gujarat farmers

As intermittent jubilation spreads through the crowd of 5,000-odd farmers at Moti Buru, outskirts of Ahmedabad, where the 'Jal, Jameen Jungle bachao padyatra' was on Saturday, Dr Kanubhai Kalsariya is quick to assert that this is not the final victory and that the fortnight-long yatra will continue till Gandhinagar as per schedule.

The people's mass protest that has brought them this victory is spectacular in its own right. Fatigued from the five hours of morning walk, these farmers are guarded in their celebrations. And they have reason to be, they claim; as things are often not as straightforward as they appear.

On the 10th day of walking 20-25 km daily, they are still unabated.  Steely determination writ on their faces, almost each yatri sports a bandana on the forehead that says — 'Village land belongs to villagers, not to the government'. There are some septuagenarians, some who are totally blind but walk with support, farmers who are disabled, women walking with infants, schoolchildren on leave from school, women who sleep on dusty village roads, eat there, bathe in a common water facility, walk with bandaged feet in searing heat…  just to save a piece of land they call their farmland. 

All with a firm belief in Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent protest -satyagraha.

And the reason for the scepticism is in this story. In the December of 2000, before Narendra Modi overthrew Keshubhai Patel, villagers of Mahuva taluka first heard whispers that the industrious proprietors of Nirma were in talks with authorities to set up a cement plant and mining around Mahuva Taluka in Bhavnagar, but the exact location was not clear.

Eight years later, when villagers were unceremoniously turned away from an Environment Public Hearing (EPH) for the cement plant to come up in Samadhiyala Bandharo in Padhiyarka village, where they wanted to register their protest against the plant, the reality of their livelihood being snatched away hit anew.
Not political, its BJP's battle

Hamirbhai Shiyal, member of BJP in Jilla Panchayat says, "We were never consulted not even told anything. At the EPH, we were asked to shut up and beaten." Since 2000, Shiyal was observing the ongoings with concentration. If Nirma's cement plant and the mining in the area come up as planned, Hamirbhai will lose his house and farmland of 26 bighas. He is a worried man. After the public hearing, he finally made up his mind that people have to protest to put an end to the rapid industrialisation in their area.

And thus in September 2008 started the first mass people's protest against the government's 'development' policies to protect their farmland from industrial takeover. This was not on the party banner, nor supported initially, but he relentlessly persisted.
Since then, he has been joined by several other BJP leaders in the farmers' fight, the most prominent among them being BJP's Mahuva MLA Dr Kanubhai Kalsariya.

Two years later, after innumerable presentations to Modi, rallies and confrontations, around 5,000 farmers embarked on a 350-km 15-day Padyatra (walking march) to the state capital Gandhinagar where the Assembly session will be underway on coming Thursday when they are scheduled to reach.

Today, Shiyal confidently strides with Dr Kalsariya.

Another office bearer of BJP in taluka panchayat Suresh Nakum says they campaigned for BJP in the elections even though they were protesting against the BJP-ruled state government's orders. "We were promised that the party will support us, but that has not happened. In the taluka panchayat elections we campaigned for the Sadbhavna panel and we won. Almost 80% of villagers in Mahuva taluka are with Dr Kalsariya on this issue," he said.

This is purely people's movement
The most striking aspect of this movement has been that it has not been supported or sponsored by any political party but completely led by the farmers themselves. Dr Kalsariya, though a sitting BJP MLA, is not supported by the party. "Farmers are bearing their own expense as they are walking. Food is arranged by donations from the villages as we walk, some from the Sadbhavna Trust and in some villages, food for thousands of us has been shouldered by the villagers as their show of support. Village women and some in the yatra too join to cook. No organization has donated to us in any manner. The nights are spent in makeshift accommodations in villages on way. This is completely a movement of the people, by the people," Dr Kalsariya said.

Rahul Gandhi is known to have extended his support to the cause and influenced the Union environment ministry in some manner, but on the ground, no logistical support has been extended by the Indian National Congress or the Youth Congress (YC). YC state president and Bhavnagar district office bearers have been participating in the yatra, and so have leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil and Congress state president Arjun Modhwadia, but sans the party banner. Mahagujarat Janata Party president Gordhan Zadafiya too attended a public meeting.

Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh's farmer body is also reported to have extended its support and asked to formally join the yatra, but while accepting their people's support, the RSS banner's support was refused.

Bapu's legacy
It is as heartening as surprising. If one every doubted that Bapu's philosophies and ideas were not relevant anymore; then the Mahuva struggle and its ensuing success has sufficiently proven that it is.

In the last two years of their protests, in the several rallies and demonstrations against the company and government, the villagers claim the company and sometimes local police have often wounded them seriously. "But we have been asked by Dr Kalsariya not to retaliate. We have to keep our protests completely non-violent. We have faith in Bapu's movement that though not immediately, he made the British empire crumble," says Kadviben Bhaiya of Dudheri village.

She was among the women beaten up during one of the rallies against Nirma in Mahuva and is quick to show her wounds. "I'll die but not return to my village till I get my land back and Nirma is ousted from Mahuva," says this livid fighter, epitomizing women's
unyielding role in the struggle.

Dr Kalsariya himself often quotes Gandhiji's books and writings and admits that he is candidly impacted by Bapu's method of protest. "This is a satyagraha, clearly on the lines of Bapu's Dandi yatra. The context has changed, but the people's movement for their rights is still the same. The Gujarat government is like the British Raj for us," he said.