Rail Roko Protests- From Farm Bills Protests

What is Rail Roko Protest? (‘Roko’ is a Hindi word which means ‘to stop’) Literally, it
means protest done in order to stop the trains. But what are they? Yes, it will be answered but
have you heard of the Farm Bill Protests in Punjab. I am sure all of you have heard of it. So,
precisely, Rail Roko Protest can be called as a subsidiary of Farm Bill Protests which is done
at Shambhu Railway Station in Punjab by many farmers with a demand ‘revocation of farm
bills.’ We will try to find out why these protests are done at Shambhu Railway Station and
what is it.

But before that, we must know about Farm Bills Protest. The Bills were passed by the NDA
government in September 2020 and also received the presidential assent. But we must know
that these bills actually came into force in June as three ordinances: i) The Farmers’ Produce
Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020, The Farmers
(Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services
Ordinance, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020. Further, the
Union Cabinet announced that the ordinances were promulgated to ease farmer’s access to
markets across the country, help them enter contracts for assured returns and exempt more
farm products from the Essential Commodities Act respectively. Farmers soon started
protests in many parts of North India, especially Punjab and Haryana.

Despite the Centre claiming the bills to be historic, neither the farmers nor the incidents
(following the presidential assent to these contentious bills) seemed to be in agreement to the
Centre. The protests of farmers spread over whole of the nation, in the states of Punjab,
Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and many others. Few of the notable
incidents which took place because of these bills can be resignation of Lok Sabha MP,
Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who also held the post for Union Minister of Food Processing. There
was suspension of 8 Rajyasabha MPs following this and TMC termed these bills as ‘murder’
of democracy. The most notable incident came when Akali Dal, BJP’s oldest ally, quit the
NDA government amid farmers’ agitation. The massive protests continued but slowly cooled
down in most of the states. But, can we imagine it cooling down in a Krishi Pradhan Pradesh
like Punjab? Definitely not. Railroad was blocked at Shambhu Railway Station by many
farmers and which is now Rail Roko Protest.
Why at Shambhu Railway Station?

Shambhu Railway station is an important railway station nestled at the Punjab-Haryana

Border. This railway station is often termed as ‘Doorway to Punjab’. The farmers of Bhartiya
Kisan Union have blocked the railroad at Shambhu Railway Station starting October 1 st,
because all the trains going to Punjab, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir and other northern states
pass through this doorway of Punjab. So, the Rail Roko Protest at this important site might
yield them results in their favour. Not only lockdown and unlock has seen several phases,
these Rail Roko Protests have also seen different phases. In phase I from October 1 st to
October 21st, all the trains (goods and passenger trains) were blocked from moving ahead.
However, from 22nd of October, after the joint decision taken by thirty farmer organisations,
they allowed the goods trains as they also carry essential supplies with the restriction on
passenger trains to be continued as it was. The Central Government still refused to clear
resumption of trains as Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Railways tweeted:

“Operationally important that all tracks, stations and Railway property are clear for safety
of passengers, Railway staff & infrastructure. People of Punjab want to travel for festivals
like Chhath Puja, Diwali & Gurupurab.”

Farmers protesting at the Railway Station told that the only reason because of which they are
not allowing the passenger trains is to drive their point to the Centre. The farmers also termed
the government as the dictator towards the farmers. They also wanted to have a meet with the
government. But when the government called them for talks in the National Capital, they
continued to demand that the three farm laws be unequivocally revoked.

In the second phase of the Rail Roko Protests, the farmers moved out of the railway tracks
and railway platforms to outside the railway stations to imply clearly that they have allowed
goods trains to pass through that point. They also alleged that the Central Government is
purposely not sending even the goods trains from there and the Central Government is taking
out vendetta politics against them.

For obvious reasons, we understand that there will be a point when the farmers will leave the
Railway Station premises and will be back to work. Also, there will be some time when
Railways will resume the trains passing through that Railway Station. There isn’t any
problem, as it seems, in resuming the goods trains as of now too. However, the farmers have
apparently blocked the railway tracks for passenger trains now too. Let’s see when these
things happen and the Rail Roko Protests come to an end as Railways are one of the most
important transport for the people of India.

We hope for the near end of these protests and the services of Railways to be normalised very
soon. However, we don’t want to comment on Farm Bills Protests from any perspective. The
author neither intends to support the protests nor intends to be in disagreement to those. All
the points mentioned in the above blog are factual and have been collected through various
media sources.