India won freedom 60 years ago, but the Indian kisan has now become a slave in his own country.” Harsh words. They were spoken by Nagi Reddy, a sugarcane grower from Mumbojipalli in Medak district in Andhra Pradesh. “Every other producer of a commodity determines its selling price. The only unfortunate exception is the farmer; the price of his produce is decided not by him but by the buyer.” Scores of hands clapped in assent.

Both the place and the occasion for expressing this grievance were significant. Some 50-odd farmers from Telangana in Andhra Pradesh had gathered under a tree near Gandhiji’s Samadhi at Rajghat on October 2. They had come marching from Jantar Mantar, where they had been sitting on a dharna, both to pay homage to the Mahatma and to highlight that his dream of ‘Gram Swaraj’ has turned into a cruel joke for India’s grameen janata.

“More and more farmers in Telangana, especially those with small landholdings, are committing suicide, unable to bear the burden of debt as well as the heavier burden of humiliation and injustice at every step,” said D. Vasant Kumar, a young man in his early twenties who was leading the agitation. “People in Delhi do not know the gravity of the crisis facing the farmers.”

Vasant, indeed, was the reason for my frequent visits to Jantar Mantar last week. He and his three young colleagues were on an indefinite hunger-strike, which had entered the fifth day on Gandhi Jayanti. They had embarked on this protest action soon after concluding their ‘Kisan Azadi Pad Yatra’, all the way from Medak to Delhi, covering a distance of 1,840 kms on foot in 54 days. I was humbled when they came to see me first on reaching Delhi.

... contd.