With no ‘Achche Din’ in sight, the nation gears up to protest 

Rulers celebrate, people agitate.  It can happen only in India.  The next two weeks are guaranteed to be exciting and infuriating, exhilarating and miserable – all at the same time.

In the saffron corner will be the government celebrating its fourth birthday, blowing its own trumpet to the tune of Modi, Modi, Modi.  In the green, red and blue corners will be the toiling classes – tillers of the soil, bank clerks, housewives - marching and demanding just one thing – insaaf, insaaf, insaaf.

The big-budget official chest-thumping has already begun.  So too have protests by the masses -  in far flung places like Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu),  Tinsukia (Assam) and Shopian (J&K).

However, a calendar for agitations has been drawn up closer to the centers of power too.   Next week, bank unions have announced a two-day pan-India strike. For ten days from June 1, the farmers of India will take out long marches culminating in a Bharat Bandh on June 10.  Much before all that,  groups of angry citizens are already taking to the streets to protest against the fuel price hike. These are just a few of the panned and planned dissenters whose voices will be raised in the fortnight ahead.

As far as officers and staff of both public and private sector banks are concerned, a call has been issued for a nation-wide strike on May 30 and May 31. The unions are basically incensed over the nominal two per cent wage hike offered by the Indian Banks’ Association. Wage negotiations which have been taking place for the last few months have broken down.

Meanwhile, several organisations representing  farmers and agricultural workers have announced elaborate details of agitations similar to the high-impact and historic marches of last year. In state after state individual programmes are being chalked out with the idea of dovetailing all of them into a climatic culmination on the tenth day.

For instance, in Madhya Pradesh, ever since the infamous Mandsaur firing, the farmers are organised better than ever before. The state government too is nervous about the repercussions and hectic efforts are underway to try to mollify the agrarian leaders.  But as of now it looks as if the stir will go on as planned – the step by step protests will begin with villages across the State (and all over the country too) being shut down.  No farmer will go out to sell his produce in the urban mandis.  Farmers will also not buy anything from the big cities. June 5 will be observed as ‘Dhikkar Divas’.  June 6 will be ‘Shahadat Divas’. June 8 has been named ‘Sahayog Divas’.  Finally June 10 will be observed as ‘Bharat Bandh Divas’.

The key demands are clear -  Loans of farmers should be waived off;  Minimum support price (MSP) should be 1.5 folds more than cost price’;  Farmers should be given pension on reaching age of 55 years’;  Those responsible for police firing as in Mandsaur should be prosecuted;  Mandi elections should be held in every five years.

In addition there are several other demands -  fruits and vegetables should not be included in Bhawantar scheme;  and purchase price of fruits and vegetables should be fixed to 1.5 times than their cost of production.

The fourth anniversary of the NDA government will, therefore, be marked by agitations by various sections of the population, each in their own way, each to voice their own grievances.  Collectively the message is clear -  the promise of achche din has not been fulfilled.  The government has betrayed the people.  The time has come for Pol Khol, Halla Bol.