The farmer protest that brought Delhi to a standstill 30 years ago

Yesterday's protest was unique in the manner in which it resembled a similar agitation that took place in 1988

The Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU)-led farmers protest, which ended at the Kisan Ghat in the early hours of Wednesday, was not just another in a series of farm agitations that have rocked the country in the last few years. It was unique in the manner in which it resembled a similar agitation that brought Delhi to a standstill almost 30 years ago in 1988.

Back in the late eighties and early nineties, the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) under its formidable founder and farm leader Mahendra Singh Tikait had the power to bring any government on its knees by the sheer number of his followers and the clout that he extended all the way to Rajasthan and Haryana.

Ever since Tikait died of cancer in 2011, western UP hasn’t seen a big agitation by the farmers and a big factor behind this has been BKU’s weakening hold over the farmers.

Moreover, after Tikait’s death, BKU got divided into almost 20 factions, each of which claimed itself to the original as a result western UP – which once was the hotbed of farm movement -- hasn’t seen a big agitation in the last few years.

This time, the agitation is being led by Naresh and Rakesh Tikait, the two sons of Mahendra Singh Tikait.

It was in 1988 that Mahendra Singh Tikait shot to fame when he along with not less than five lakh farmers in hordes of bullock carts and tongas had laid seize over the iconic Vijay Chowk to India Gate in the heart of Delhi’s power capital.

Their demand was simple. Among other things, the farmers wanted higher price for sugarcane and waiver of electricity and water charges.

Such was the strength of the agitation and the determination of farmers that the then Rajiv Gandhi government had to agree to almost all the demands of the farmers, thus ending the seize.

Old-timers say, under relentless attack from opposition parties over the unfolding Bofors scandal, Rajiv Gandhi could have been ill-advised to take on the farmers and that was one of the main reasons why he agreed to the farmers demand.

The opposition was joining ranks to corner the government on the Bofors scandal making it look shaky despite its brute majority in Parliament.

Thirty-years on, the latest agitation by BKU comes almost at an identical time in the political history.

Farmers of western UP are not getting their sugarcane price and over Rs 90 billion is yet to be paid to them from 2017-19 season even as the 2018-19 crushing season has started, power and diesel rates have gone up, while the Central government is facing flak over the Rafael deal and Opposition is joining ranks to challenge its majority.

For BKU, the agitation in many respects is an attempt to once again establish itself as the quintessential voice of farmers of western UP and get back its lost support among them.

In the midst of all this, BKU and Tikait brothers got support from Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) another major player in western UP. Singh joined the agitators in Delhi-UP border on October 2 and pledged full support for the cause.

His joining the agitations when both BKU and RLD have almost the same political support base is being seen by many as coming together of formidable old Jat plus farmers combine.

Ajit Singh’s father late Prime Minister Chaudhury Charan Singh, was the tallest leader of the community and wielded strong influence on the region's farmers.

Though never as rivals, Mahendra Singh Tikait, in some ways occupied the space left after Charan Singh passed away.

His son, Ajit Singh, throwing his weight behind the Tikait brothers is being seen as an important development in the politics of western UP by many.