In Photos: An 'Economic Revolution' Later, Farmers at Ghazipur Head Home
Ghazipur: After the Narendra Modi government agreed to accept all the pending demands of the nation's farmers, the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of all the protesting farmers' organisations announced an end to the year-long protests on December 9. Finally the Ghazipur border, one of the three protest sites at the national capital's borders, slowly gets vacated. While the farmers move out with a smile, they say the idea of revolution still exists.
The protests began in response to the passage of three contentious agriculture Bills by both houses of parliament. The legalisation of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime, justice for the families of all the farmers slain over the course of the year and so on were other key demands. On November 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the government would repeal the three laws ahead of the crucial Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
Now, after the laws have been repealed and legal MSPs have been guaranteed, farmer leaders have finally begun moving out from the sites on the Delhi border.
The images that follow are from Ghazipur on the UP-Delhi border, from where farm leader Rakesh Tikait mobilised and steered the movement. The farmers there now call the protests an "economic revolution" which has forced the country's leaders to listen to them.
The images of farmers vacating the site serve to pay homage to the farmers who stayed there and faced political intimidation, arrest and in the case of some, death. The serve as a residue of the momentous protest that the farmers of the country maintained, against all odds.
All photos by Shome Basu.
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