India's Punjab Farmer Unions and Democratic Engagement: In between Mobilisation and Electoral Politics
The 2020 farmers movement presented by many scholars as a beacon of hope for democratic movements and struggles in the country, as brought back the agrarian issues at the centre of political imagination of the country. Particularly, in Punjab, where farmer unions were suffering and marred with internal weaknesses, revived during the farmers movement. However, farmers have remained central to the Punjab state electoral politics. Fifty-five percent of Punjab’s rural population are still engaged in cultivation which makes them a crucial voting group in the state. Developed against these factors, this paper asks the question- what role Punjab’s farmer unions played particularly during 2022 state legislative election and after it?
Five-months ethnography fieldwork was conducted in Gharachon and Toor Banjara villages of Punjab. Farmers were divided into six categories. 165 semi-structured interviews and four focused group discussions, and 20 semi-structured interviews of four farmer unions members were conducted, ensuring diversity among farmers along caste, class and gender.
The study shows that farmers unions actions and agenda during the elections reflect a form of democratic engagement as they mobilize civic participation outside formal political structure. However, the paper highlights the inherent challenges of inclusivity across caste and class lines, which harm the unions capacity’s to be representative of all agrarian community. Furthermore, farmer unions claimed to be non-partisan, but during elections they called for protests to remind the voters that political parties have failed to resolve their grievances. These unions are caught up with maintaining the equilibrium to stay as pressure group and to not indulge in party politics.