With the forceful eviction of farmers and removal of their camps at Shambu and Khannuri border on 21st-22 March, 2025, the Kisan Andolan 2.0 it seems to have been snubbed out of existence. The top leadership including keys leaders like Swaran Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal, along with others are arrested by the Punjab government. The arrests came as quite a shock as they had just finished the meeting with Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh and others in Chandigarh.
The turn of events points to a premeditated strategy possibly designed by the Punjab government. As soon as the leadership existed the union territory of Chandigarh, they along with their supporters were taken in by the police. Now while the leadership was being taken to prison, another police team started to sweep camps at the Shambhu border. With no leadership to direct the farmers, the protesting farmers were in state of disarray.
Punjab Police came prepared with bulldozers and JCB, and started to break away all the camps. There were enough armed personals to contain any violence or resistance by the farmers. In matter of hours the farmers’ camps were removed. And thus ended the year long Kisan Andolan 2.0 at Shambu border. The JCBs then started to dismantle all the police barricades and barbed wires. By next morning the Chandigarh-Ambala highway was open for business.
After clearing Shambhu border, the Punjab Police started the clean up at Khannuri border. Keep in the mind the Jagjit Singh Dallewal’s cadre was encamped at the Khannuri border, and he had personally been on a hunger strike for over 110 days to demand Minimum Support Price (MSP) as a legal right for farmers. He had only decided to take government medical assistance once the Centre agreed to direct talks with the leadership of Kisan Andolan 2.0. So the actions of the Punjab Police appear like a dagger in back of the Kisan Andolan 2.0. The Khannuri border currently is also open for traffic and the protesting farmers have been removed.
Additional security personnel were sent in districts to ensure that counter protests don’t build up in Punjab. Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) had already warned of protests in various districts, but the biggest silver lining among all the chaos came as a joint protest declaration. Since the 2020-21 protests, SKM (non-political) had vociferously attacked the Samyukta Kisan Morcha of Kisan Andolan 1.0 that occupied Delhi’s borders in 2020-21 as being political. But in the turn of events, the remaining leadership have met and decided to hold a joint protest. So the SKM (non-political), SKM (Kisan Andolan 1.0) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) have finally come together as one entity and once again there is unity among the farmer groups in Punjab. This decision came from the six member unity committee of the SKM (Punjab) after a meeting in Barnala.
So what went wrong? Why did it so long for the farmers bodies to come together ? To begin the Kisan Andolan 2.0 lead by leaders like Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Sarwan Singh Pandher was built on the platform that openly challenged the authority of SKM (2020-21) and declared them as "political" players. After the return of protesting farmers from Delhi’s borders in 2021, the government stopped talking with the SKM leadership on the MSP law issue. This was used by the leadership of the Kisan Andolan 2.0 as a weapon. What aided the Kisan Andolan 2.0’s resolve was the participation of farmer leader Rajewal, etc in Punjab elections and their subsequent electoral losses.
Using this election defeats as cause, the Kisan Andolan 2.0 took a step away from the Kisan Andolan 1.0. Having taken the step, they naturally attracted all the splinter groups from bigger factions of BKU Urgaha, etc. Kisan Andolan 2.0 which camped at Shambu and Khannuri border became the convergence point for the off shoots of the Kisan Andolan 1.0. Having step up camps, they then started the Kalash Yatra, carrying the ashes of the martyr of police shooting in February 2024. They went across Punjab and Haryana hoping to gather more support for their cause and potentially breakaway more cadres from the various BKUs.
Reportedly they also refused to let the older SKM join their camps or support them and hence isolated themselves from the larger cadre base. Once singled out they were easy to crush. Once the Punjab government perhaps got a wind of the negotiations and a “positive environment” at the talks with the central leadership, they saw an opportunity and they destroyed the protests in matter of hours.
The Kisan Andolan 2.0 leadership’s litmus test was the eviction drive, unlike the Kisan Andolan 1.0, they failed to get outside support from the farmers nearby to stop the eviction. What Rakesh Tikait managed to do in the January of 2021, when on his call lakhs and lakhs of farmers entered the camps to stop the evictions drive, was not done by Kisan Andolan 2.0. So basically Kisan Andolan 2.0 failed to spread and make their demand for MSP as law a national cause.
The disunity with Kisan Andolan 1.0 also caused them dearly. As the result the Punjab police were able to evict them so easily. Now that all the factions have come together, it would be a new ray of hope which could for one last time galvanise the demand of Indian farmers for a fair price and agro-economic justice in India.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of ETV Bharat)
