Samyukta Kisan Morcha appeals to people Punishing BJP for corporatization of agriculture, wealth inequality and unemployment

The BJP has introduced 3 farm bills to open up the Indian economy to multinational corporations
NEW DELHI: The BJP has completely abandoned its ‘Swadeshi economic policy’ and surrendered to the imperialist dictates of the WTO to open up the Indian economy to foreign capital. In the process, the Modi government dismantled the public sector, sold off stocks and sold them cheaply to private monopolists, and facilitated the liberalization of agricultural imports through multiple free trade agreements. The three farm laws were introduced to open up the Indian economy, especially the agricultural sector, to multinational corporations.

International financial capital is putting constant pressure on the opening of the financial sector, giving priority to the banking and insurance sectors. The liberalization policy path has benefited the corporate sector, especially big business. The BJP and Prime Minister Modi act as agents of corporate forces – both domestic and foreign. Most of the loans from public financial institutions have been captured by corporate houses. Tax policy was intended to transfer the resources of the people to a narrow layer of the large capitalist class. The rise of monopolies like Ambani and Adani and the increasing penetration of foreign finance capital have become a distinct feature of the Modi Raj.

Ordinary people, workers, farmers and the middle class were subjected to ruthless exploitation in the name of facilitating “development”. The acute and persistent agrarian crisis has resulted in unemployment, deep debt, poverty, rural-urban migration, and the destruction of small and medium-sized industries. According to the 2011 census, 23.5 crore people – 17% of the 140 crore population – are migrant workers due to rural distress and agrarian crisis. During the 13-month, historic struggle of farmers, 736 farmers died, but Prime Minister Modi did not implement the agreement signed on December 9, 2021 with SKM on MSP@C2+50% and the complete abolition of loans to farmers under the pressure of monopoly capital.

The Constitution of the Republic of India has defined a set of directive policies including adequate means of subsistence for every citizen and the right to work, an economic system without concentration of wealth, the right to free and compulsory education for children, a living wage for workers and equal pay for equal work for men and women. The Modi government’s policies have precisely contradicted these principles, and now the top 1% of the population – the rich billionaires and wealthy groups – own 40.5% of India’s total wealth, while the bottom 50% of the population, consisting mainly of workers and peasants, own just 3%.

SKM expressed full confidence in the people of India and their democratic and political understanding of the grave challenges on livelihood issues arising from the vigorous implementation of corporate policies over the last ten years by the BJP-led NDA government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. SKM appeals to workers and farmers to ensure changes in the government as well as in people development policies, not corporate houses, to end the acute agrarian crisis that has devastated the lives of working people.