Challenging the BJP-led NDA with just months to go for local assembly elections in India's most politically important state, farm leaders driving the movement against the Modi government's agricultural reforms staged a major show of strength in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh Sunday, announcing in front of tens of thousands of farmers their plan to campaign against the ruling party. The occasion was billed as a “mahapanchayat” (grand assembly) by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of farmers’ unions that has been leading the movement over the last nine months, but the political significance of the event lay in the choice of the venue itself, The Indian Express reported. 

Organisers described the rally as the biggest protest since their movement began last November. For days, buses and tractors have been ferrying farmers into the city of Muzaffarnagar, posing a major security challenge. 
 
The western UP district, which was scarred by communal riots in 2013, had been a stronghold of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) until the rise of the BJP, which had managed to garner the support of influential village councils including the those headed by Naresh Tikait and Rakesh Tikait, sons of legendary farmer leader, the late Mahendra Singh Tikait.

On Sunday, Rakesh Tikait, leader of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, led the charge against the BJP, drawing loud cheers. “People of UP will not tolerate (Home Minister) Amit Shah, (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi and (UP Chief Minister) Yogi Adityanath. If we have governments like this, there will be riots. This land witnessed the slogan of “Allahu Akbar, Har Har Mahadev” in the past. They talk of dividing, we speak of uniting,” he said.
 
Tikait accused the Modi government of not reaching out to farmers since January 22, when the last round of talks was held. “They did not even express grief over the deaths of over 600 farm protesters over the last nine months. Our campaign will cover the entire country, our mission is to save the country,” he said.

Accusing the government of having “cheated the people”, he alleged: “They are selling our farmlands, highways, power, LIC (state-run insurance major), and corporate houses like Adani and Ambani are the buyers. Even the FCI (Food Corporatiomn of India) godowns and ports are being sold. Under this government, the entire country is up for sale.”
 
This is a show of strength by the influential farming communities of western UP, particularly from the powerful Jat community. With the opposition RLD and SP courting them for the 2022 polls, and given how a substantial section from this region had voted for BJP in previous elections, this muscle-flexing may demand deft political manoeuvring from the ruling party.

The three contentious farm laws pertain to the sale and purchase of farm produce outside government wholesale markets, contract cultivation, and removing the government's powers to impose stockholding limits on foodstuff. The Indian government says the laws, which loosen rules around how farmers can sell their produce and are a major step towards long-pending agricultural reforms, will give farmers more freedom. But opponents say the reforms leave small farmers vulnerable to big corporations.
 
Sunday’s gathering was attended by farmers from UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, Telangana, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and other states.

According to SKM, the mission is a sustained agitation against the government to repeal the laws and mobilise a largescale farmer movement in the state and country, The Indian Express said. The Morcha has called for a nationwide strike on September 27.

Significantly, the Muzaffarnagar riots were referenced in almost every speech as leaders appealed to farmers to condemn communal politics. “This is the same Muzaffarnagar where rivers of blood were drawn between Hindus and Muslims. They played politics with burning houses. Someone who makes communities fight, cannot be the true son of the nation,” Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav said.