Among the many videos going viral covering the ongoing farmers protest’ against the newly enacted three Farm Bills in India, is one where a group of women are singing a song about tea and Prime Minister Modi. While Modi’s connection with tea is well-known, the song (sung in the form of women’s ‘sangeet’ which is usually heard on the occasion of marriages) goes on to describe various ingredients needed to make ‘cha’, and links each of those with the prime minister.

Sample this:

“Chai me dali ilaachi, Modi ki nahi chalegi chalaki;

Chai mein dali khand, Modi nira jhutha pandh;

Chai mein dala dudh, assi chheda Modi naal yudh”

And finally:

“Modi nu paon jutiyon da haar; te karo desh de bahar”.

Without going into a detailed translation, the song essentially castigates Modi in colourful ways invoking the demand to kick him out of power. And this is just one expression among hundreds circulating as part of the ongoing movement.

It is that time of the year again when things begin to freeze in large parts of India but people come out on the streets to give poetic expressions against the state, thereby compensating for the fall in temperature with the increased political heat generated on the ground.

It’s almost become routine now.

Last year, it was protesters from diverse backgrounds aligned against the state’s newly introduced and enacted Citizenship Amendment Act (which discriminated against Muslims in its dispensation over who could potentially be a citizen of this country). Some years ago, it was a massive uprising against brutal rape and torture of a girl later named Nirbhaya, who subsequently died. A little later, it was against the widespread corruption supposedly patronised by the government and so on. One almost begins to believe in the celestial alignments of this season and the resultant effect they have on this country. While on one hand, it makes you fear what’s in store this winter, it also rekindles your hopes again and again in the resilience and power of the people of this country.

The protests triggered by the new laws which essentially propose to relieve the government from its obligation to provide subsidies to agriculture, push a large swathe of small and marginal farmers out of agriculture, and by implication providing food assurance to a vast mast of the poor. And the arguments range from the economic (with 60 percent of the population on agriculture producing only 16 percent of GDP, it was high time they were pushed out of their meagre land holdings, and that this will help unshackle the hold of a few rich farmers over agriculture) to the more overtly political (they are separatists, left-loonies, urban-naxals and Khalistanis), and social (that they are mostly pizza-eating, English-speaking rich guys who have nothing to do with ‘real’ farming) ones.

While a good summary of the genesis of these protests and its various shades can be found on the recent Wikipedia page created for this purpose, it would be useful to briefly look at the background against which the protests are being held. Take, for example, the fact that over the past five years, over 139,123 registered farmer suicides have occurred in India largely due to rising debt levels and low income. This is in a context where the same sector employs around 50 crore landless labourers seasonally. The average income of the farmers across India has consistently declined and the highest earner among them earns a maximum of Indian Rs 14-18,000 a month while many states show an average monthly income of about Rs 6,000 and less (including Bihar where a similar law was enacted in 2006). This has to be read also in a context where the minimum wages for unskilled labour in agriculture has been officially notified to be ranging from Rs 368 per day to Rs 408 per day by the government. Predictably, farmers and not just from the visibly active states like the Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan (backed by over 40 agricultural unions) decided to ‘descend upon’ Delhi.

Braving various barricades across state borders, consistent baton charges, water cannons and teargas shells, carrying their own rations and supplies (like the armies of yesteryears), a large number of them have converged now around various borders of Delhi. Their current estimates range from 250,000 to 300,000 while every day the numbers of protesters continues to increase even when a large number of them are not farmers but simply there to show their solidarity with the farmers.

As per the latest reports, after farmers intensified their ongoing agitation, Delhi Police have installed nine layers of barricades three layers of iron barricades with barbed wire on top, three layers of concrete jersey barriers locked with iron chain, one layer of iron containers filled with sand and two layers of sand-laden dumpers at Singhu, Tekri and Ghazipur borders to prevent the entry of protesters into the national capital.

Tells you something about how the state is feeling at the moment.

As per some estimates, about 20 deaths have occurred including due to accidents, the biting cold or other so-called ‘natural causes’. The ongoing protests have been supported by 15 political parties from the opposition, a few political functionaries from the ruling party have resigned. Others like Akali Dal have parted ways with the ruling alliance.

Like the previous year’s anti-CAA protests, people have found creative ways of expressing themselves. Poets and writers have returned their awards, this includes Surjit Patar, the eminent Punjabi poet; writers have written songs, composers and rock bands have composed and continue to perform while social media continues to make viral iconic photos of protesters’ bravery and state’s, at times, explicitly brutal response. One memorable photo is the iconic photograph of an elderly man being beaten with a raised baton by a policeman; another protester switching off the water cannon from the top of a vehicle (he was subsequently charged with murder). The medium and site of protest is back to its creative best, just like olden times, while we wait for this ghastly year to end.

A previous version of the story erroneously stated that Bihar abolished the APMC Act 6 years ago. This has now been corrected

The author has been in the development sector for more than a decade and currently works with an international non-governmental organisation based in Delhi. He may be reached at: avinashcold@gmail.com