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ABSTRACT
The Kisan Andolan (2020–21) was a unique protest in independent India that kept the struggle at high pitch for 13 months girding Delhi at all its borders. Besides the protesting farmers, the general populace too frequented the protest sites in huge numbers. It was much akin to doing pilgrimage and of participation in the peoples’ struggle. The top pop stars of the Punjabi music industry were active participants in entertaining the protesting masses and also writing and singing the protest songs. An attempt is made here to present their perspective on the kisan andolan revolving around four themes: the Indian state, peasants’ self-perception, issues involved and the protest site.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 To contextualize the singers’ perspective, see (a) Birinder Pal Singh. 2022. ‘Kisan Andolan in India (2020–21): Primacy of the Political.’ Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture, Theory 18 (1–2): 150–169. This volume of the journal also carries other articles on the andolan as well as on the farmers’ protest music. (b) Shinder S. Thandi (ed.). 2022. Journal of Sikh and Punjab Studies 29 (1–2) ‘Special Issue on Farmers’ Agitation.’
2 These songs have been included in one way or another in the present study: Ranjit Bawa, 21 Vin Sadi, Punjab Bolda; Kanwar Grewal, Aakhri Faisla, Ailaan, Neta Ji, Vote; Kanwar Grewal and Harf Cheema, 2022, Pecha, Jawani Zindabad, Balle Shera, Mitti, Padshah, Jittuga Punjab (with Galav Waraich); K.P. Kundu and Arvind Jangid, Aa Liye Delhi; Himmat Sandhu, Asin Vaddange; Jazzy B. et al, Bagawatan; Pavy Virk, Delhi Nu; Gurlez Akhtar and Bachan Bedil, Delhi to Punjab; Jimmy Kaler, Fateh Delhi 19; Sidhu Moosewala et al, Punjab (My Motherland); Kulbir Jhinjer, Jaggo; Jass Bajwa, Jatta Tagda Hoja; Ninja and Jassi Lohka, Kisan di Awaz; Mankirt Aulakh et al, Kisan Anthem, Kisan Anthem 2; Maana Johal and Harsh Sidhu, Kisan Anthem 3; Taari, Kisan Victory Anthem; Babbu Maan, Kisan Zindabad; Kisan Anthem 2% Wale; Happy Raikoti and Laddi Gill, Kisani Hoka; Ajay Hooda, Modi Ji Thari … ; Ammy Virk, Kisan Andolan; Nirvair Pannu, Sawa Lakh Dilliye; Rajvir Jawanda, Sun Dilliye; Virasat Sandhu, Fateh Morcha; Gippy Grewal, Zalam Sarkaran, Korala Maan Weapon Shoulder; Rupinder Handa, 26 Nu Dilli; Harf Cheema and Gurlez Akhtar, Border; Anonymous, Hathiyar.
3 ‘The central government has filed legal complaints against the songs’. ‘YouTube pulls down songs on farm protest’, The Tribune, 7 February 2021.
4 The Punjabi words have been romanised and the translation is intended to be literal to keep closest to the native essence of the lyrics so that one familiar with Punjabi and Punjab can capture the intended meaning and its essence even if for others it may appear to be bad English. It is regrettable that some repetition is unavoidable due to the overlap of subject matter.
5 During the protest period, the temperatures in and around Delhi ranged between 1.5°C and 45°C.
6 Kisan Anthem (7.35 min) and Kisan Anthem 2 (15.33 min) are sung by about a dozen singers from Punjab and Haryana.
7 1984, the Orwellian year, is deeply entrenched in the Punjabi psyche especially of the Sikhs for two events a la Lyotard (a) Operation Bluestar in June 1984, a military action on Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar to kill/capture Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his accomplices. (b) The massacre of Sikhs in Delhi and other cities all over India in November following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 31 October 1984 who had given orders for the above Operation. (For details, see ‘Epilogue’ in Birinder Pal Singh, Violence as Political Discourse: Sikh Militancy confronts the Indian State, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, 2002.)
8 Canter is a small commercial truck used for transporting goods.
9 See Birinder Pal Singh (ed.). 2010. ‘Introduction.’ In Punjab Peasantry in Turmoil. Manohar, Delhi.
10 During the yearlong kisan andolan more than 700 peasant protesters young and old had sacrificed their lives.
11 Pizzas served in the langar were much maligned by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the godi media suggesting that farmers were there not to protest but on picnics.
12 Baba Ramdev, yoga guru has meteoric rise from an nondescript fitness teacher to an entrepreneur manufacturing ayurvedic medicines and allied products including food items. In less than a decade its assets have soared to about $190 million in 2023. (https://caknowledge.com/baba-ramdev-net-worth (accessed 19 July 2023) His nationalism and anti-coca cola propaganda was complimentary to that of the ruling dispensation (BJP) at the Centre. He promoted Ayurvedic medicines speaking against colonialism and western allopathic medicine, etc. Recently, the Supreme Court of India reprimanded the yoga instructor Ramdev and his firm Patajali over misleading advertisements making unverified claims to cure all kinds of diseases. ‘SC raps Patanjali over ads against modern medicines’, Hindustan Times, 22 November 2023.
13 The Sikhs are often teased, ‘tuhade 12 vaj gaye’ suggesting one to be off mind and stupid talking nonsense.
14 This banner (Ambani–Adani) was displayed more than conspicuously at the protest sites.
15 The train to Bikaner is called locally ‘Cancer Express’ because majority passengers are cancer patients and their attendants who go to Bikaner for cheap quality treatment in Rajasthan.
16 There is abundant material on YouTube showing the protest sites on its various aspects of personal, regional and communal cooperation amongst farmers besides their maltreatment by the security forces. There are plenty of iconic images of police brutality that became viral internationally.
17 A Thar is a four seater SUV by Mahindra priced at a million plus rupees.
18 80-year-old Mahinder Kaur of Bathinda slapped a contempt case in the civil courts against Kangana for this remark.
19 ‘Kangana Ranaut vs Daljit Dosanjh, the biggest Twitter fight of 2020’, India Today, 1754188-2020-12-29.
20 An ex-army person from Amloh (Punjab) ran a tea langar at Singhu border displaying a banner: ‘Chah barhi tatti’ai, Kangana kapatti’ai’. Literally, tea is very hot and Kangana is malicious.
21 Rihanna tweeted: ‘why aren’t we talking about this?!#FarmersProtest’. There was much uproar against this support from the Bollywood actors and many of them spoke the Centre’s language of criticizing her and other international celebrities like Lady Gaga and Greta Thunberg for interfering in Indian national affairs. These supporters were called a ‘conspiracy to defame India’ by the Indian godi media. Daljit Dosanjh showered praise on Rihanna in his song RiRi (YouTube) dated 3 February 2021.
22 The state of Haryana was carved out of Punjab in November 1966. The issue of inclusion and exclusion of certain areas on linguistic basis and claim on Chandigarh as capital of a state have been in contest since then. Chandigarh however remains a joint capital as a union territory. The political parties often bring the issue of sharing river waters and the Satluj-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal into the foreground. It also happened during the kisan andolan to polarize the farmers of Punjab and Haryana.