The Uprising: Dilli Chalo and Life at the Borders

Kissan Andolan — The Complete Story · Part 6 of 12 · by Lovepreet Singh

For five parts we have argued in words. Now the words run out, and the people move. This is where the story leaves paper and hits the cold tarmac of a highway — where a disagreement over three laws became one of the largest and longest protests the world has ever seen.

In this part

• Why Punjab lit the match first
• The spark: Punjab erupts, summer to autumn 2020
• One voice: the birth of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha
• "Dilli Chalo": the call to march
• The road to Delhi: barricades, water cannons and trenches
• The refusal at Burari
• The three gates: Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur
• From sit-in to city: the protest becomes semi-permanent
• How big was it, really?
• Two ways to see the very same scene
• Where we go next

For five parts we have argued in words. Now the words run out, and the people move. This is where the story leaves paper and hits the cold tarmac of a highway — where a disagreement over three laws became one of the largest and longest protests the world has ever seen. 1 Why Punjab lit the match first Farmers from many states joined in. But the first, fiercest fire was lit in Punjab — and by now you already know why. Three reasons from earlier parts come together here. Why Punjab, in three lines 1. The most to lose. Remember Part 2: the government buys roughly 85% of Punjab's rice and 74% of its wheat at MSP. No state leans on the mandi-MSP system more — so no state was more frightened to see it touched. 2. The deepest dependence. The Green Revolution (Part 1) built Punjab's whole economy around wheat and paddy sold through that system. 3. The strongest unions. Punjab has a long, organis…

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