Bharatiya Kisan Union

Bharatiya Kisan Union (Indian Farmers' Union) is a non-partisan farmer's representative organisation in India. It was founded by Chaudhary Charan Singh from the Punjab Khetibari Union (Punjab Farming Union) which became its Punjab branch.[1] The western Uttar Pradesh branch of the union was founded in 17 October 1986 by Mahendra Singh Tikait.[2] The union is affiliated to the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee and Via Campesina.[3] The national headquarters of the union is located in Sisauli, Uttar Pradesh.[4] It has presence in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana,[5] Punjab,[6] Uttarakhand,[7] Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat,[8] Madhya Pradesh,[9] Chhattisgarh,[10] Rajasthan,[11] Karnataka,[12] Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.[13][1]

Bharatiya Kisan Union
AbbreviationBKU
PredecessorPunjab Khetibari Union
Kisan Sangarsh Samiti (Haryana)
Raytu Sangha (Karnataka)
Vyavasayigal Sangham (Tamil Nadu)
Formation1 July 1978 (1978-07-01)
FoundersChaudhary Charan Singh
M. D. Nanjundaswamy
Narayanswamy Naidu
Bhupinder Singh Mann
Mahendra Singh Tikait
Legal statusActive
HeadquartersKisan Bhawan, Sisauli, Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh
Region served
India
Secretary General
Yudhvir Singh
National Spokesperson
Rakesh Tikait
AffiliationsAll India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee
Via Campesina
WebsiteOfficial Website

History

The foundation of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) began with the formation of the Punjab Khetibari Zamindari Union (later renamed Punjab Khetibari Union) in May 1972 with the merger of 11 peasants group in Chandigarh.[14] In 1978, the PKU was transformed into the BKU with the intention of creating a national forum for farmers with association to the Bharatiya Lok Dal of the Janata Party (Secular), but it failed to provide a substantial mobilization of farmers initially.[15] In 12 December 1980, an "All-India Kisan Sammelan" was organised which saw the unification of the Kisan Sangarsh Samiti (Haryana), Raytu Sangha (Karnataka) and Vyavasayigal Sangham (Tamil Nadu) under the ambit of the BKU. In 1982, the union underwent a brief split under the designation of BKU (N) led by Narayanasamy Naidu and BKU (M) led by Bhupendra Singh Mann. The organisation was however reunited by the intervention of Sharad Anantrao Joshi under a federal structure with autonomous state units.[16][17] It was reorganised in 17 October 1986 by Mahendra Singh Tikait with its headquarters in Sisauli in western Uttar Pradesh as a non-partisan organisation contrary to its previous association with the former Prime Minister, Charan Singh.[15]

During the 1980s, it emerged through a number of agitations which began with the rising wave of people's movements since the Bihar Movement following Indira Gandhi's Emergency.[18][19] The Bharatiya Kisan Union attained popularity by leading the "Meerut siege" in January–February 1988 which was a 25-day long dharna (picketing) around the commissioner's office in Meerut that witnessed the gathering of hundreds of thousands of farmers from around the area into the city.[20] Later, in the same year, the BKU under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Tikait lead the "Boat Club Rally" which witnessed a mass gathering of 800,000 farmers from western Uttar Pradesh and other parts of the country into the boat club lawns of the upscale neighborhood between Udyog Bhavan and Krishi Bhavan in New Delhi.[21] The crowd of protesting farmers who arrived with tractors and bullock carts stretched for 3 km from India Gate to Vijay Chowk.[22] Their demands were that of the implementation of measures such as control over prices of sugarcane, loan waivers to farmers and lowering of water and power tariffs during the early stages of the process of economic liberalisation in India.[23][24] The BKU achieved relative success in acquiring several concessions during this time period.[25][26]

Ideology

The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) maintains itself as a non-partisan farmers' representative organisation. The stated purpose of the Union is to act as a pressure group from outside the establishment of electoral politics.[27] The union terms the World Trade Organization (WTO) as an "unreasonable regime" which serves the interests of corporations and facilitates uneven competition by victimizing Indian farmers and the farmers of other developing countries. The BKU maintains the position that agriculture should be excluded from the ambit of the WTO, patents on products abolished and patents on process to last for only 10 years.[28] The union has also shown skepticism towards the introduction of genetically modified crops and raises concerns that it could jeopardize sustainability and consumer health.[29] It provides issue-based support to candidates across party lines.[30] The union however has come into conflict with the hindu nationalist movement which it asserts creates division on sectarian lines and is of no consequence to the farmers' movement.[31]

Organisation

The Bharatiya Kisan Union has an overarching federal structure with autonomous state units. The state units operate under their own designation in Karnataka as the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and in Tamil Nadu as the Vyavasayigal Sangham which are interpreted as regional equivalent designations of the Bharatiya Kisan Union.[16][32]

The organisation of the union is modeled on the lines of a grassroots system of village panchayats. The BKU meetings are noted to be informal, rustic and egalitarian in their structure while making use of the traditional institutions of khap panchayats.[33]

See also

References
  1. Brass, Tom (1995). New Farmers' Movements in India. vol 12. Frank Cass. p. 201. ISBN 0-7146-4609-1.
  2. "Bhartiya Kisan Union activists not to contest Lok Sabha polls". The Economic Times. 7 February 2014.
  3. "Bharatiya Kisan Union backs Tamil Nadu farmers protesting with human skulls in New Delhi – Via Campesina". Via Campesina. 28 March 2017.
  4. "BKU leader Mahendra Singh Tikait dead". India Today. 15 May 2011.
  5. "Jind farm fires: BKU gives government 30-day ultimatum for dropping charges | Gurgaon News". The Times of India. 27 November 2019.
  6. "Punjab: Nearly 20,000 Farmers, Women Take to Malerkotla Streets Against CAA". The Wire. 2 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  7. "All you need to know about the Bharatiya Kisan Union protest in Delhi". Business Standard. 2 October 2018.
  8. "Bharatiya Kisan Union to oppose BJP in Gujarat, HP elections". United News of India. 7 November 2017.
  9. "Madhya Pradesh farmers begin three-day stir, supplies affected". The New Indian Express. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  10. "भारतीय किसान यूनियन छग में होगी सक्रिय, प्रदेशाध्यक्ष तय" [Bharatiya Kisan Union to be active in Chhattisgarh, the state president will be active]. Dainik Bhaskar (in Hindi). 12 October 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  11. Soni, Aniket. "100 गांवों के लोगों ने कहा, समझौते की पालना नहीं हुई तो अलवर कूच" [People from 100 villages have threatened to march to Alwar if the agreement is not followed]. Patrika News (in Hindi). Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  12. "Bhartiya Kisan Union to launch stir in national capital from March 17". The Economic Times. 21 December 2015.
  13. Mukesh, Kumar (5 July 2019). "Hisar farmers to defy ban, plant GM cotton today | Gurgaon News". The Times of India. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  14. Kochanek, Stanley A.; Hardgrave, Robert L. (2007). India: Government and Politics in a Developing Nation. Cengage Learning. p. 255. ISBN 978-0495007494.
  15. Dhanagare, D. N (2016). Populism and Power: Farmers' movement in western India, 1980–2014. India: Routledge. p. 130. ISBN 978-1-138-96327-6.
  16. Omvedt, Gail (1993). Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements and the Socialist Tradition in India. M. E. Sharpe. p. 122. ISBN 0-87332-784-5.
  17. Bentall, Jim; Corbridge, Stuart (1996). "Urban-Rural Relations, Demand Politics and the 'New Agrarianism' in Northwest India: The Bharatiya Kisan Union". Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 21 (1): 30. doi:10.2307/622922. JSTOR 622922.
  18. Brass, Tom (1995). New Farmers' Movements in India. vol 12. Frank Cass. p. 95. ISBN 0-7146-4609-1.
  19. Reddy, Sheela (5 September 2011). "1974... Is This Really As Real? | Outlook India Magazine". Outlook India. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  20. Dhanagare, D. N (2016). Populism and Power: Farmers' movement in western India, 1980–2014. India: Routledge. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-138-96327-6.
  21. Louis, Arul B. (19 December 2014) [15 January 1979]. "Kisan Rally: Farmers throng the capital with festive gaiety". India Today. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  22. "Lutyens' Delhi: Boat Club is back on map as India's resistance square | India News". The Times of India. 23 July 2018.
  23. Dhanagare, D. N (2016). Populism and Power: Farmers' movement in western India, 1980–2014. India: Routledge. pp. 128–129. ISBN 978-1-138-96327-6.
  24. Chakraborty, Tapas (16 May 2011). "'Messiah' for farmers who laid siege to capital". The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  25. Brass, Tom (1995). New Farmers' Movements in India. vol 12. Frank Cass. pp. 201–203. ISBN 0-7146-4609-1.
  26. Sharma, Raghavi (1 October 2018). "Tikait's Kisan Union to Bring Thousands of Farmers to Delhi in 'Kisan Kranti Yatra'". The Wire.
  27. Brass, Tom (1995). New Farmers' Movements in India. vol 12. Frank Cass. p. 168. ISBN 0-7146-4609-1.
  28. "BKU wants agriculture out of WTO". The Economic Times. 9 August 2005.
  29. "Farmers' groups split over HTbt cotton cultivation". The Economic Times. 17 July 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  30. "BKU's issue-based support to parties". The Times of India. 6 February 2002. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  31. Brass, Tom (1995). New Farmers' Movements in India. vol 12. Frank Cass. pp. 114–115. ISBN 0-7146-4609-1.
  32. Ray, Raka; Katzenstein, Mary Fainsod (2005). Social Movements in India: Poverty, Power, and Politics. United States of America: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 185–186. ISBN 9780742538429.
  33. Sahay, Gaurang (1 October 2004). "Traditional Institutions and Cultural Practices vis-à-vis Agrarian Mobilisation: The Case of Bhartiya Kisan Union". Sociological Bulletin. 53 (3): 406–407. doi:10.1177/0038022920040305. JSTOR 23620470.

Further reading

Gupta, Dipankar (1988). "Country-Town Nexus and Agrarian Mobilisation: Bharatiya Kisan Union as an Instance". Economic and Political Weekly. 23 (51): 2688–2696. JSTOR 4394150.

Hasan, Zoya (1989). "Self-Serving Guardians: Formation and Strategy of the Bhartiya Kisan Union". Economic and Political Weekly. 24 (48): 2663–2670. JSTOR 4395653.

Bentall, Jim; Corbridge, Stuart (1996). "Urban-Rural Relations, Demand Politics and the 'New Agrarianism' in Northwest India: The Bharatiya Kisan Union". Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 21 (1): 27. doi:10.2307/622922. JSTOR 622922.

Sahay, Gaurang (1 October 2004). "Traditional Institutions and Cultural Practices vis-à-vis Agrarian Mobilisation: The Case of Bhartiya Kisan Union". Sociological Bulletin. 53 (3): 396–418. doi:10.1177/0038022920040305 – via JOUR.

Dhanagare, D. N (2016). Populism and Power: Farmers' movement in western India, 1980--2014. India: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-96327-6.

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