The ongoing dharna in Bhind continued on the fifth day on 13 January 2021 with farmers burning copies of the anti-people farm laws in the evening at the Parade crossroads. Two of these laws are about agriculture and the third concerns 'roti' or food security of the common people.
In the Essential Commodities Act 2020 the government has removed the staples of life like rice, wheat and dal from the list of essential commodities. As a result, corporates like Adani and Ambani will hoard food items and create an artificial food crisis. There will be a shortage of food items in the market and prices will skyrocket, making it difficult for the common people to afford food.
So far the government has been procuring 23 crops at MSP, most of them food crops. If corporates start buying the crops, government godowns will become empty and they will either have to buy food grains at high prices from corporate traders or close down schemes for providing food grains at affordable rates to the people. The people will then be left to the mercy of corporate traders for their food requirements. If the trader gets a better profit in foreign countries he will export the food grains and an artificial food crisis will be created in our country. The Modi government has made all arrangements for corporates to transport food grains in the form of trains within the country and ports and ships for shipping abroad.
Therefore the farmers' struggle today is as much if not more for the food security of the people of our country. This struggle is a people's struggle and not just a farmers' struggle. In response to the call given by AIKSCC copies of the anti-people farm laws were burnt in Bhind as well as across the country on 13 January. A large number of people participated in the protest, including Devendra Singh Chauhan, Anil Dauneria, Dr Nadeem Khan, Surajrekha Tripathi, Ram Lakhan Dandotia, Jugal Kishore Batham, Srikrishna Valmiki, Awadhesh Bhadoria, Nathu Singh Baghel, Jagdish Yadav, Vikrant Dikshit, Janardan Reddy, Kishorilal Shakya, Divya Chauhan, Ramashankar, Gaurishankar Narvaria, Nekram Sankri, Arun Yadav, Sanjay Purohit, Sandeep Kushwaha and others.
