“The sanctity of law can be maintained only so long as it is the expression of the will of the people,” pronounced Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh during the Lahore Conspiracy case hearing. It now resounds similarly in the many hails, slogans and revolutionary triumphs of thousands of Bhagat Singh’s who are once again at loggerheads with oligarchs, demagogues and other brown colonialists of many fascist hues.
The relentless pursuit to assault the working class at the beset of the current regime of fascists and corporate cronies through every yardstick of exploitation has come brimming to a point where thousands of farmers are braving lathis, tear gas, water cannons, constant vilification, biting cold and the constant reminder by lumpen politicians and media anchors that they’ve somehow been misled collectively.
The ever bereft working class and the farmers have finally stretched out to pluck the answer, no more and an asserting curiosity of yes or no. The answer and question broadly pertain not just to the ongoing farmers’ protest but rather represents the candid assertion of the resilient and revolutionary might of the working class against passive reforms and after years of being led to a smokescreen of spurious claims of betterment and promises. After being pushed to the wall, the only way is forward.
History is testament to the fact when the mighty working class and the beleaguered walk ridden with resentment and thump their feet together while armoured with slogans, flags and sheer motive; history etches their story, the mightiest of castles tremble, the mightiest of tyrants get petrified, the loudest din of vilification and speeches of reactionary pacification turn reticent.
As Shaheed Bhagat Singh and his comrades often recited, “Ek Hulera Idhar Se Aaye, Ek Hulera Udhar Se Aaye, Sara Ulat Pulat Hojaye,” perhaps resonates too closely to the resilient solidarity of farmers and farm workers throughout the country towards a common struggle across class, religious and ascribed lines. The need to lend a hand to a distant brother who is not necessarily related by blood but by land, by a common lingering need for change, has shaken the foundation of demagoguery at the helm like never before.
It’s startling to see farmers, the common working-class and samaritans uniting against all odds to fulfil the most basic needs of each other while contributing drop by drop to the massive spectacle of community that history bears witness to at the margins of the capital.
Throughout, the eyes can see and ears can relish, posters of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Kartar Singh Saraba, Udham Singh, Pash, the slogans of “Inquilab Zindabad” and “Kisan Mazdoor Ekta Zindabad”, folk songs expressing the struggle of independence, libraries full of stories to tell and poems of revolution has invoked the lives of martyrs, revolutionaries, artists and has resurrected them once again in the sea of myriad matching shoulders and voices who are in a tryst with revolution and change.
Perhaps not through our own eyes but the eyes of thousands of Bhagat Singhs from all directions amongst farmers and workers shall we contemplate what this beautiful confluence of solidarity will usher this country and the world towards.