Portraits from a Rally: The Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat in Delhi
On March 14, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s (SKM) rally in Delhi’s Ramleela Maidan drew in well over 30,000 farmers, agricultural workers and union activists from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Karnataka among other states. They were joined by trade unionists from the All India Trade Union Congress, Centre of Indian Trade Union, Indian Federation of Trade Unions and other labour federations.
Speakers at the rally demanded a legal guarantee that farmers’ crops will be bought at the minimum support price (as calculated by the formula proposed by the Swaminathan Commission), a waiver of farmers’ debts, reduced electricity rates for agriculture, 200 days of work at a daily wage of Rs 700 for the rural unemployed under the NREGA scheme, an end to the privatisation of public-sector industries and justice for the victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri killings among other demands.
The SKM seems to have been spurred into action after the march to Delhi organised by the SKM (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha was violently prevented from reaching its destination by state paramilitary and police forces in February. The SKM’s rally was held near where the scenes of January 26, 2021 took place, when farmers demonstrated in large numbers outside the Red Fort, and recalled the powerful movement of 2020-2021 which forced the government to repeal the three farm laws.
Rather than photographs of masses of people, these photographs are portraits of individuals who attended the SKM’s rally with a view to putting faces to the activists of the farmers’ movement.
A protestor at Kisan Mahapanchayat at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on March 14. Photo: Zaen Alkazi.
A protestor at Kisan Mahapanchayat at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on March 14. Photo: Zaen Alkazi.
A protestor at Kisan Mahapanchayat at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on March 14. Photo: Zaen Alkazi.
A protestor at Kisan Mahapanchayat at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on March 14. Photo: Zaen Alkazi
A protestor at Kisan Mahapanchayat at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on March 14. Photo: Zaen Alkazi
A protestor at Kisan Mahapanchayat at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on March 14. Photo: Zaen Alkazi
A protestor at Kisan Mahapanchayat at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on March 14. Photo: Zaen Alkazi
A protestor at Kisan Mahapanchayat at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on March 14. Photo: Zaen Alkazi
A protestor at Kisan Mahapanchayat at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on March 14. Photo: Zaen Alkazi
A protestor at Kisan Mahapanchayat at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on March 14. Photo: Zaen Alkazi.
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