Dear Editor,
I have been reading the non-stop coverage of the peasant struggle and the news of protests on your website. I thank you for publishing the statements and the news around the issue, which clearly explain why the farmers are protesting and all the support that they are receiving not only from the country but from all over the world.
I am the child of a peasant and I am a worker in the city. I have been a regular reader of your bi-monthly paper earlier and now of the website during COVID-19. CGPI’s relentless work in bringing forward the truth has aided in my growing understanding of how the State truly operates.
Our collective experience shows that the State will go to great, in fact any lengths to discredit the movement of the people, whether it is students, workers, youth, women or peasants. It will use its media, its political parties and its institutions including educational institutions to do this. We as Indians have been brainwashed into questioning our own people before we even think of questioning those in power. Whenever people come on to the streets to demand their rights, the discourse through the national media (and other forums) is immediately shifted towards questioning or dehumanising those who are demanding justice. For example, “Do the peasants actually know about the laws they are protesting against?”, “Is this a Punjab peasant struggle?” and so on. Time and again we are made to believe that the Indian state and its institutions are trying to help and it is the people (us) who are stupid, not listening, unclear of the good being done for them. We are not trained to question those in power, those who make the laws and policies that impact us. It is inspiring to see the peasants come together and patiently respond to the media and show that they are neither stupid nor misled. It is even more heart-warming to see the kind of support the movement is receiving from different sections of society.
I salute the CGPI and its paper in continuously speaking truth to power, for standing shoulder to shoulder with the masses and fighting, no matter which region, religion, caste, gender or ethnicity we belong to.
Long live the unity of workers and peasants!
Inqualaab Zindabad!
Yours,
Kaveri