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Letters: Farmers movement in India has a long tradition

Letter writer P. Kaur Dhaliwal bellieves last week's letter was written by a Modi operative bearing a fake alias
india-protest

Dear Editor,

Re: “Farmers’ rally for India misses the point,” Letter, Dec. 17.

I come from people of the land and water, and carry the seeds of my Panjabi heritage, farming upbringing and Sikhi spirit wherever I go.

On Nov. 1, 1913, envisioning a free “India,” the Ghadar Party was founded by Panjabis and Bengalis migrants in San Francisco.

The Ghadraites were a secular group and comprised of Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus, or as they put it ‘Ram, Allah and Nanak’” and established deep roots from San Francisco to Vancouver. They used activism and literature to spread their revolutionary movement of overthrowing British rule globally.

Although they were ultimately unsuccessful, their ideals influenced the eventual “freedom” from the British and the establishment of modern-day “India.”

One should not dismiss people’s support in Richmond or anywhere in the world for the Farmers Movement.

Unconcerned about influencing a “foreign country,” the Ghadarites focused on establishing the most basic of human rights — freedom from authoritarian rule.

In Sikhi supporting human rights is a fundamental duty.

From the recent three-year false imprisonment and torture of British citizen Jagtar (Jaggi) Singh to the instigation of anti-Muslim violence by Delhi Police; or suppressing the investigation of the Sikh Genocide of 1984; or using laws to eliminate democratic dissent; or interrogating and torturing marginalized Kashmiris; or suppressing the most vulnerable and poor through demonetization; or murdering of thousands by the secret police operatives, including my uncle; or colluding with billionaires to silence voices, the hands of the “democratic” Indian government and its supporters are dripping in blood.

Based on the legacy of the Ghadarites, we have a responsibility to support movements against injustice in the lands of our ancestors, including the inspiring movement we are witnessing by farmers today.

The Farmers Movement is much more than an “internal law.” The new policies are designed to benefit corporate interests, not small farmers.

The millions of people supporting this Farmers Movement, and most importantly the farmers themselves, are keenly aware of the impact of corporations on the agriculture sector through pesticide and GMO intensive practices, leading to debt and farmer suicides.

And opposition to these corporate-friendly policies exists in all 29 states in India regardless of the official positions of their governments.

It may be lost on the person who wrote the letter in last week’s Richmond News in support of the farm laws currently enacted by the Modi government in India (a person some of us believe to be a Modi operative bearing a fake alias),  but the Farmers Movement is about an awakening of millions, rising against corruption and standing for those oppressed.

We hope you will join us in our struggle as we will continue to roar until we take our last breaths.

P. Kaur Dhaliwal

RICHMOND