Marxist, XLI, 3, July–September 2025
AShok Dhawale
Review of the Work on the Kisan Front and Future Tasks
The CPI(M) Central Committee reviewed the work on the Kisan Front at its meeting held in New Delhi from September 13-15, 2025. The last Review of the Work of the Kisan Front by the Central Committee was conducted in January 2017 in its meeting held at Thiruvananthapuram. That Review was in two parts: Certain Tasks in the Kisan and Agricultural Workers’ Fronts based on the Directions of the Kolkata Plenum and Review of the Work on the Kisan Front.
The 2025 Review of the Work of the Kisan Front and Future Tasks is for the subsequent period, from 2017 to 2025. This period was selected for two valid reasons. First, it saw the unfolding of the thoroughly reactionary and neoliberal agrarian and other policies of the BJP-RSS-controlled union government which has been in power since 2014. Second, it also coincided with the massive independent and united peasant struggles by the Kisan Front against these policies.
Political Background
The Kisan Front Review was conducted against a grave political background. The RSS-BJP-led union government led by Narendra Modi in the last 11 years since 2014 has proved to be by far the most anti-people, pro-corporate, pro-imperialist, communal, casteist, authoritarian, corrupt, and unscrupulous government in the history of India since independence. Moreover, this government displays grave neo-fascist characteristics.
It is in this background that the three key political tasks laid down by the 24th Party Congress at Madurai in April 2025 assume cardinal importance. These tasks are: 1. Making a substantial and sustained increase in the independent strength and political influence of the Party; 2. Ensuring the resounding defeat of the RSS-BJP-led regime by forging a broad unity of all Left, democratic and secular forces; and 3. Making all efforts to build and strengthen a Left and democratic alternative. The Kisan Front Review has kept these three key tasks in mind.
Current Agrarian Challenges
The Kisan Front Review analyses in some depth the current agrarian challenges before the Kisan Front. The essence of that section is covered by R Ramakumar’s article in this volume.
Major Peasant Demands Today
In view of the above analysis of the current agrarian challenges, the Review pinpointed some of the major demands of the peasantry. The intensity and sweep of each of these demands will, of course, vary with the concrete situation in each state. Burning local issues must also be taken up for sustained struggle. The 15 major peasant demands which the Review document has highlighted are as follows:
Staunchly oppose Trump’s Tariff Terrorism, and all attempts by imperialism and the foreign and domestic corporate lobby to attack agriculture, and also the peasantry, the working class, and the people through the tariff war, free trade agreements, unequal treaties, and so on.
Initiate substantive land reforms. Distribute all ceiling surplus land, bhoodan land, and waste land to the landless poor. Ensure house sites and adequate houses to all the homeless.
Make special provisions for giving ownership of land, house sites and houses to the socially oppressed sections like SCs, STs, NTs, MBCs, BCs and poor OBCs.
Ensure equal ownership rights over land pattas and other property to women and, in view of their large share in agricultural work, recognise them as farmers.
Strictly implement the Forest Rights Act (FRA) and the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA). Withdraw the anti-tribal changes in the rules of the Forest Conservation Act (FCA). Vest forest land, temple trust/inami/pasture land, etc in the names of the tillers.
Strictly implement all provisions of the LARR Act of 2013. Stop indiscriminate land acquisition for the benefit of the corporate-government nexus from the peasantry, including tribals.
Ensure legal guarantee to Minimum Support Price (MSP) @ C2+50 per cent as recommended by the National Commission of Farmers, along with mechanisms for procurement. Sharply reduce the input costs of seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides, diesel, water and power.
Implement a complete loan waiver by the union government to poor and middle peasants, tenant farmers, agricultural workers and rural artisans. Ensure adequate bank credit to them at zero rate of interest. Reverse privatisation of banks, insurance and the financial sector.
Withdraw the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022 and the pre-paid electricity smart meter scheme. Stop the privatisation of, increase public investment in, and expand the reach of the electricity and irrigation sectors, and reduce the high tariffs of both.
Immediately sanction and implement adequate funds from the union government to actively help the peasantry in distress due to severe natural calamities like floods, droughts, excessive rains, etc. Make radical changes in the anti-farmer and pro-corporate Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) to make it beneficial for farmers and not the insurance companies.
Substantially increase the days of work to at least 200 per year and wages to at least Rs 600 per day under MGNREGA and greatly expand the scheme and its outlay. Begin a new urban employment guarantee scheme. Increase wages of all agricultural and rural workers.
Radically expand and universalise the public distribution system (PDS) to include 14 essential items including pulses, sugar, cooking oil etc. throughout the country.
Give pension of Rs 10,000 per month from the union government to agricultural and rural workers, and poor and middle farmers above the age of 58 years.
Take firm steps to curb the wild animal menace. Make suitable amendments to the Wildlife Protection Act. Oppose evictions due to Elephant Corridors, Tiger Reserves, and Wild Life Sanctuaries, which threaten the lands of tribals and traditional forest dwellers.
Ensure basic amenities to the rural population – clean drinking water, toilets, sanitation, quality schools, free education till Class 12, free health services, gainful employment etc..
Review of Implementation: Struggles and Campaigns
After setting out the Tasks given by the Kannur Party Congress for the Kisan Front, the Review document considers the implementation of these tasks in the sections given below.
Independent Struggles and Campaigns of the Kisan Front
Independent struggles by the Kisan Front have been one of the highlights of the period under review.
Struggle for Loan Waiver and Pension Hike in Rajasthan – 2017: In Rajasthan there was a 13-day independent struggle by the Kisan Front in September 2017 involving Kisan Curfew, 10-day Mahapadavs outside the district collectorates and a 3-day statewide Road Blockade in which thousands of peasants participated. The BJP state government conceded many demands, but did not implement them. Hence a huge Mahapadav was planned at Jaipur in February 2018. Just before that over 200 Kisan Front leaders were arrested. The struggle was further intensified against this repression. Finally, the government agreed to implement the 2017 agreement, expanded the loan waiver scheme, agreed to give pensions and partially removed toll taxes. Peasants in Rajasthan benefited by the loan waiver scheme of around Rs 10,000 crore.
Massive Kisan Long March in Maharashtra – 2018: In Maharashtra under the Kisan Front’s independent leadership, a Kisan Long March on foot for nearly 200 Km in March 2018 from Nashik to Mumbai, saw the participation of 50,000 peasants from over 20 districts. They were led by thousands of Adivasi peasants, including a large number of peasant women. The BJP-led state government was forced to back down, give written assurances on all the demands, and place the written agreement with the Kisan Front in both Houses of the State Legislature. The Kisan Long March won demands related to forest rights, loan waiver, food security, and increased pensions. This mass action caught the imagination of the peasantry and the people across the country, was excellently covered by all sections of the national and state mainstream media and social media.
The Kisan Long March was preceded by a one lakh strong two-day state-wide peasant Mahapadav at Nashik in March 2016 and a 50,000-strong two-day Adivasi peasant Mahagherao of the Tribal Development Minister’s house at Wada in Palghar district in October 2016. This was followed by the united action of the 11-day statewide farmers’ strike in June 2017, which forced the state government to declare a huge loan waiver (see later).
Struggle for Crop Insurance in Rajasthan: Large, sustained and successful struggles on the issue of crop insurance were held independently by our Kisan Front in Churu and Hanumangarh. They won crop insurance claims of hundreds of crores of rupees every year for farmers. In 2021, a 137-day dharna in Churu followed by a 58-hour road blockade was able to ensure that Rs 258 crore of insurance claims were paid to farmers. Again, for the 2023 insurance claims, a 127-day dharna was followed by Kisan Long Marches from each tehsil to culminate in a huge rally in Churu. A sum of Rs 800 crore is due to the farmers, and the struggle is still on.
Struggle In Karnataka for Bagair Hukum Lands: The Kisan Front’s tenacious struggle in 2018 could force the Karnataka government to ensure land rights to the Bagair Hukum cultivators who were cultivating government land. Lakhs of farmers benefited from this decision. About 50,000 people were mobilised and seven Padayatras covering 800 Km were organised. The gains of this struggle were significant, though it did not receive adequate national attention.
Struggles Against Union Government Policies in Kerala: The Kerala unit of the Kisan Front led massive struggles against the Rubber Tyre Cartel and the union government’s failure to support rubber farmers. Jathas and protests in front of Apollo Tyres and MRF Tyres were held. A statewide Jatha on the wild animal menace, and separate Parliament Marches by rubber farmers and on the wild animal menace were held. Protests against the centre’s financial strangling of Kerala, and the attacks on Newsclick, were held. Large state conventions of women farmers and young farmers were held.
Struggles on Land and other Issues in West Bengal: The Bengal unit organised various struggles on land, crop prices and numerous local issues. After the TMC came to power, its goons who were in league with Jotdars and the police, forcibly evicted poor peasants and occupied the land. In several districts, movements to re-capture the land were organised. Farmers’ movements were organized demanding proper compensation for land which was acquired for construction of national highways. Roads were blocked by spreading potatoes and paddy on the road for a better crop price.
Facing Repression in Tripura: In the last seven years, we have been facing severe attacks on farmers and their livelihoods by the BJP and its tribal allies. Both the Kisan and the Tribal Fronts worked together and faced the challenges jointly. SKM-CTU calls were effectively implemented by all three class fronts. Several local struggles were undertaken.
Struggles in Telangana: There was a prolonged agitation to secure title deeds under the FRA. As a result, the government had to issue title deeds for 4.02 lakh acres. Compensation was increased under the LARR Act 2013 for acquisition of land for the Regional Ring Road, Greenfield Highway, SEZs, industries and projects. In another agitation, Rs 200 crore was released as crop loss compensation due to natural disasters. In the sustained struggle for house sites in Telangana in 69 centres covering 20 districts, 23,570 families occupied vacant government land and built huts. The previous BRS state government unleashed severe repression. The struggle intensified and 1,155 families were able to secure allotment of double bedroom houses. The Congress state government reneged on its earlier promises, unleashed repression and demolished hutments in five big centres. But 6,940 families are still in occupation of their hutments in 37 centres. The struggle is continuing.
Struggles in Andhra Pradesh: Struggles were conducted against the previous YSRCP government’s attempt to install smart meters on agricultural motors in 2022. Meters were uprooted in Anantapur and dumped in front of the electricity office. The state government abandoned the move. An agitation for remunerative price for cashew in Srikakulam since 2023 successfully ensured increase in price from Rs 7,000 to Rs 13,500. Militant agitations for irrigation projects and against forced land acquisition took place in many districts. An indefinite agitation was held for more than three months in five districts against the reduction in milk procurement price by the Visakha Dairy management and against the irregularities of its Chairman. In 2025, agitations were organized demanding support price for cocoa, chilli, rice, tobacco, and mango. The government provided Rs 800 crore under the Market Intervention Scheme.
The Government of Andhra Pradesh took up issues of tenant farmers only due to the activity of our Union. Our political campaign forced other political parties to take a position against the new Tenant Farmers’ Act. Protests for crop loans to tenant farmers in front of local banks and at the state level bankers’ meetings forced the Chief Minister and the bankers to support the sanction of crop loan to tenant farmers. Targets were given to local branches to give them crop loans.
Other Local Struggles for Land Rights and against Land Grab: The Kisan Front led sustained struggles across various states on burning land issues. In Tamil Nadu, successful protests against land acquisition for high-tension wires, the GAIL Pipeline, and the Salem-Chennai 8-lane highway have forced realignment and higher compensation. In Bihar, ongoing land struggles focus on securing housing for the homeless and protecting the agricultural land already occupied, resisting landlord violence which has led to several martyrs. In Greater NOIDA, the Kisan Front independently intervened in the 130-day militant struggle by farmers for fair land compensation.
Land Rights State Conventions: The Kisan Front has decided to hold state-level Land Rights Conventions in each state to concretely study the various land-related issues, both old and new. This will be followed by an All India Convention. These conventions will give calls for consistent struggles on land-related issues, which are getting more acute and complex. The Kisan Front in Maharashtra and Tamilnadu recently held successful Land Rights State Conventions.
Crop-Based Mobilization: Efforts to mobilize farmers based on specific crops helped the Kisan Front to expand its influence beyond its traditional base. Thus, various struggles of Rubber, Sugarcane, Apple, Dairy, Coffee, Jute, and Cotton Farmers have taken place in various states.
Remarkable Crop-based Work in Tamil Nadu: The crop-based experience of our Kisan Front in Tamil Nadu has been remarkable. Our Sugarcane Farmers Association has units in all the 42 sugar mills in Tamil Nadu. In the last seven years, there have been 26 protests at the sugar mill level and in the state capital to protect the cooperative sugar mills. Because of our struggle, there are no sugarcane arrears in Tamil Nadu, and we successfully secured Rs 408 crore in arrears through struggles and legal battles. 90 per cent of its 24,000 members are beyond the fold of our Party. Similarly, the Milk Producers Association is also active in Tamil Nadu, with 40,000 dairy producers as its members.
Help in Natural Calamities: The Kisan Front contributed Rs 5 lakh each towards relief efforts in Tripura, Assam, Tamil Nadu and towards the Waynad Relief Fund. The Kerala unit did excellent work and collected and contributed Rs 1 crore to the Wayanad Relief Fund. A Rs 10 lakh Punjab Flood Relief Fund is being given. Central office bearers visited the flood-hit and landslide-hit states.
Areas for Self-Criticism and Radical Improvement: Given below are four key areas in which the Kisan Front has been chronically weak and it must resolve to make radical improvements.
Campaign against Communalism: The most consistent campaign against communalism in this period was that conducted during the one-year-long farmers’ struggle. Along with the pro-corporate policies of the RSS-BJP government, its communal and authoritarian designs were attacked. The unprecedented Muzaffarnagar rally (where communal riots took place in 2013) of SKM on 5 September 2021 focused on this aspect. The Kisan Front Centre intervened in the lynching of dairy farmers Pehlu Khan and Umar Khan from Haryana who were brutally lynched in Rajasthan, and of three Muslim boys from UP in Chhattisgarh. Demonstrations were held, a fund campaign was launched, and financial help was given to the victims’ families.
However, we cannot at all be complacent on this score. A much more consistent and effective political, ideological and cultural campaign against communalism must be one of our top priorities. The communal hate campaign of the Sangh Parivar is percolating down to all villages in the country. We must strengthen anti-communal campaigns manifold. Mere propaganda campaigns are insufficient to combat communal ideology. The Kisan Front must intervene at the village level and the house-to-house level in the social and cultural life of farmers with imaginative activities to counter the RSS.
Social Issues: The Kisan Front in states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Tripura and Maharashtra made some efforts to address social issues of religious, caste, tribal and gender oppression and discrimination. In different incidents of caste atrocities, atrocities on women, and the Manipur crisis, the response has been timely, and protests have been widely observed. A Vachathi Victory Day was organised across the country with materials explaining this bitter but successful struggle that took place in Tamil Nadu. In Karnataka a continuous struggle by the Kisan and Agricultural Workers’ Fronts in Marakumbi led to a historic judgement where nearly 100 upper-caste perpetrators of atrocities on Dalits were given a life sentence. But much more needs to be done on social issues to gain the lasting confidence of the oppressed sections of society.
Work among Women: Peasant women participate in large numbers in demonstrations and rallies of the Kisan Front in most parts of the country. But our biggest weakness in this regard is that their numbers in Kisan Front committees at various levels is negligible. To put it bluntly, this shows the impact of feudalism and patriarchy. The Kisan Front has participated in several activities in solidarity with women. In the shocking Manipur case of abuse and killing of women, protests were widely observed. Large independent conventions of women farmers were recently held in Kerala and Maharashtra. It has been decided to hold Women’s State Conventions in every state, followed by an All India Peasant Women’s Convention. Women must be promoted to leadership positions in the Kisan Front at all levels. Gender sensitive training must be regularly imparted to all Kisan activists.
Work among Youth: Similarly, there must be much greater concentration on, and efforts for, attracting youth to the Kisan Front. This is especially important because there are several reports of youth turning away from agriculture for a variety of reasons. The issues of peasant youth must be identified. Without peasant youth coming to the Kisan Front in large numbers, the Front does not have a bright future. Senior leaders should encourage and promote youth activists. In the representation of youth in leading committees at all levels, there has not been much progress. As an exception Kerala has done quite well. It has also held a Statewide Youth Peasant convention. All states must also follow suit. This must be followed by an All India Peasant Youth Convention. Like women, youth must also be consciously promoted to leadership positions in the Kisan Front at all levels.
B. United Peasant Struggles
The Historic United Farmers’ Struggle of 2020-21: The historic farmers’ struggle that began at the borders of Delhi on 26 November 2020 and concluded one year fifteen days later on 11 December 2021, has been by far the largest, the longest and the most powerful farmers’ struggle in the history of India. It won the remarkable victory of forcing the Modi-Shah-led BJP-RSS union government to repeal the three hated pro-corporate, anti-farmer and anti-people Farm Laws. The movement triumphed over tremendous State repression, Goebbelsian defamation, the unprecedented Covid pandemic, and extreme weather conditions in Delhi. Nearly 750 farmers were martyred. It was entirely democratic, peaceful, and secular. It was jointly led by several farmers’ organisations, under the platform of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM). Our Kisan Front was one of the leading constituents of the SKM. It took steps to involve the central trade unions and agricultural workers’ organisations for worker-peasant unity. It also reached out to women, youth, and student bodies.
Political Impact of the Farmers’ Struggle of 2020-21: The Review of the 18th Lok Sabha Elections taken by the CPI(M) Central Committee at its New Delhi meeting in June 2024 summed up the political impact of this struggle as follows: “The growing popular discontent reflected in various people’s struggles, especially in the historic Kisan struggle, had its impact in these elections. The BJP lost 38 of its sitting seats in the agricultural districts in five states of Western UP, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. The continued rural distress with lack of a remunerative MSP and rural real wages stagnating during the Modi decade ensured that in 159 predominantly rural constituencies in the country people voted for a change.”
Role of the Kisan Front in the Farmers’ Struggle: Our Kisan Front has been an important constituent of the All India Kisan Struggle Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) and later the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) which led this struggle, ever since their inception in 2017 and 2020 respectively. In this capacity, it played a major role in the collective decision making and implementation of the farmers’ struggle.
The Kisan Front was represented in the 9-member SKM Coordination Committee, and in the 40-member group that had 11 rounds of talks with the union government till 22 January 2021, when the government arbitrarily broke off talks. The Kisan Front was also represented in the 5-member committee of the SKM that was elected to negotiate the final agreement with the union government in December 2021.
While resolutely taking active part in all SKM’s joint nationwide calls, some independent actions were also organised. The most effective was our three class fronts’ call for a nationwide struggle on the anniversary of ‘Quit India Day’, 9 August 2021. This ‘Save India Day’ mobilised over 8 lakh people all over the country. This far exceeded even the record mobilisation of over 5 lakh achieved on 9 August 2018. Another was the week-long padayatras by the Kisan Front and its fraternal organisations in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, culminating at the Delhi borders.
Our Kisan Front was the only peasant organisation in the country with a fair presence at all the six borders around Delhi. This mobilisation came from the frontline states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The Kisan Front from other states across the country also sent contingents to Delhi for several days each. Large joint Mahapanchayats, with good mobilisation by us, were held throughout the country. Taking India as a whole, the largest single mobilization of farmers in this struggle was undoubtedly that of our Kisan Front.
Worker-Peasant Unity in the Farmers’ Struggle: The farmers’ struggle itself began on the salutary note of worker-peasant unity. On the same day that the SKM gave its call for ‘Chalo Delhi’, i.e. 26 November 2020, the Central Trade Unions (CTUs) also gave a call for an All India General Strike. Within the SKM, our Kisan Front consistently took the initiative to strengthen worker-peasant unity, and the unity of farmers with other sections. With consistent efforts from our side, the SKM supported the demand of the CTUs for the repeal of the four Labour Codes and for a halt to the privatisation drive of the public sector. The SKM’s national convention in August 2021 at the Singhu border invited leaders of the trade unions, agricultural workers, Dalit, Adivasi, women, youth and student bodies and adopted resolutions in support of their demands. This inclusive approach helped to make the Bharat Bandh of 27 September 2021 a massive success.
Special mention must be made of the large contributions to the Kisan Front Struggle Fund made by the working class, several unions affiliated to our Trade Union Front, many unions in the public sector, and others supporters and sympathisers.
Self-Critical Assessment: Despite the creditable overall performance of the Kisan Front in this struggle, the Review also made a self-critical assessment of our work. Sectarian mistakes in our intervention in some states like Punjab, and other general weaknesses, were clearly pinpointed.
Class Implications of the Farmers’ Struggle: The Political Report of the Central Committee held on 30-31 January 2021, when the Delhi farmers’ struggle was in progress, devoted a full section to this struggle. It perceptively analysed the class implications of this struggle as follows:
This Kisan struggle has sharply brought out the efforts by the leadership of the ruling classes – the big bourgeoisie – to acquire corporate control over Indian agriculture, its produce, its markets for profit maximisation in the background of the sustained global capitalist crisis and severe recession of the Indian economy exacerbated by the Covid pandemic and the lockdowns.
This has created a conflict between the big bourgeoisie, in collaboration with international finance capital on the one hand, and the entire peasantry, including by and large the rich peasants, on the other. This conflict creates possibilities that can be utilised by the working class, poor peasantry and agricultural labour to intensify the class struggles against the bourgeois-landlord class order… The growing contradiction among the BJP and the regional ruling parties has the potential for building a wider unity against the BJP, particularly in the absence of any effective intervention by the Congress.
The possibility of advancing the struggles has grown with the emerging convergence of struggles between the working class and the peasantry. This was evident from the beginnings that were made towards joint activities of the trade union, kisan and agricultural workers movements during the last couple of years. This has reached a higher level during the course of the November 26-27, 2020 action calls. This must be further strengthened in order to move towards achieving the class unity of the workers and peasants, i.e. the worker-peasant alliance. The struggles against the Farm Laws and the Labour Codes abrogating the rights of the working class must be jointly strengthened in the coming period.
AIKSCC Kisan Mukti Yatra, Kisan Mukti Sansad and Kisan Mukti March: The Kisan Front was actively involved in the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) formed after the Mandsaur police firing in which six farmers were killed by the BJP state government in Madhya Pradesh in June 2017. The Kisan Front participated in the Kisan Mukti Yatra in different parts of India. It culminated in the Kisan Sansad at Delhi in November 2017 in which nearly 30,000 farmers participated, of which over 8,000 were of the Kisan Front. A novel Mahila Kisan Sansad was also held. Drafts of two Bills were placed in the Kisan Sansad, one for Liberation from Debt and the other for Assured Remunerative Prices. These Bills were presented in Parliament.
The AIKSCC organized a one lakh strong Kisan Mukti March to Parliament in Delhi on 29-30 November 2018. The Kisan Front had the largest participation in it, of over 20,000 peasants from several states. This rally adopted a 19-point Manifesto of Indian Farmers, which included several demands of agricultural workers, tenant farmers, fisherfolk, and poor peasants. The Kisan Front played a major role in the AIKSCC discussions while preparing this Manifesto.
Bhumi Adhikar Andolan and Joint Struggles for Land Rights: The Bhumi Adhikar Andolan (BAA) is a platform which was formed in 2015 to demand the withdrawal of the pro-corporate and anti-farmer Land Acquisition Ordinance promulgated by the Modi regime. A concerted joint peasant struggle, including burning the Ordinance in over 300 districts, two Delhi rallies, coupled with strong opposition in Parliament, and the pressure of the impending Bihar state assembly elections, forced the Modi regime to let the Ordinance lapse. However, many BJP-led state governments later passed legislation facilitating land grab by corporates. Many land-related issues were later taken up by the BAA for struggle. State chapters of the BAA were formed in many states.
United Farmers’ Strike for Loan Waiver in Maharashtra – 2017: On 1 June 2017, a novel and unprecedented united farmers’ strike began in Maharashtra for loan waiver and remunerative prices. Farmers stopped getting their milk, vegetables, and fruits for sale in the cities. A massive Maharashtra Bandh to support the farmers’ strike was held on 5 June. A state convention on 8 June called for a statewide Rail Roko agitation on 13 June. Under this mounting pressure from the peasantry, on 11 June, the BJP state government had to bend. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was forced to declare a Rs 34,000 crore loan waiver package of Rs 1.5 lakh each to 89.87 lakh peasants out of 1.36 crore peasants in the state. However, due to the onerous conditions imposed, by December 2019, the loan waiver had benefited only 44.23 lakh farmers who got a total loan waiver of only Rs 19,843 crore. But even this was a significant achievement. The struggle continued even later, and the MVA state government led by Uddhav Thackeray increased the loan waiver amount to Rs 2 lakh each, and expanded the ambit of the scheme. Till December 2021, 31.71 lakh farmers received a benefit of loan waiver amounting to Rs 20,243 crore. Thus, in the five years from 2017 to 2021, farmers in Maharashtra succeeded in wresting a total loan waiver of more than Rs 40,000 crore through struggle.
United Struggle Against Land Acquisition in Karnataka: These struggles include a victorious 1198-day struggle in Channarayapatna (Bangalore) against land acquisition. Here the erstwhile BJP state government was facilitating corporate take-over of fertile multi-cropped land in the vicinity of the Bangalore International Airport at the behest of the real estate mafia. Farmers from 13 villages started a struggle more than three years ago by forming a Struggle Committee, defying threats and repression. The Kisan Front and the Samyukta Horata Karnataka played a big role. The unity was met with repression by the Congress regime. On 26 June 2025 police launched a brutal assault on peaceful protestors and many were arrested. There was an immediate reaction across the state against police brutality with widespread protests by writers, artistes, and civil society groups who also came out in solidarity with the farmers. Thousands of people under the banner of Samyukta Horata protested at Freedom Park. As a result of this protracted struggle, on 15 July 2025, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had to announce a halt to the acquisition proceedings and denotify 1,777 acres of land, freeing it from the threat of acquisition. However, the Gazette notification has yet to come.
C. Worker-Peasant United Actions of our Three Class Fronts
It is a welcome development that the period under review saw increasing coordination and united actions towards worker-peasant unity. The objective reason for this unity was the savage attack on all producing classes by the Modi-led BJP-RSS-controlled central government. The subjective reason was the conscious initiative taken by the central leadership of all our three class fronts.
9 August 2018 Nationwide Jail Bharo and 5 September 2018 Delhi Rally: The unprecedented success of the 9 August nationwide Jail Bharo struggle which mobilised over 5 lakh people, and the 5 September Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally in Delhi which mobilised over 2 lakh people, were two striking examples. Both these struggles were led under the Red Flag jointly by our three class fronts. There was massive participation of women. The 2018 actions were surpassed only on 9 August 2021, on ‘Save India Day’, when our three class fronts mobilised over 8 lakh people in a nationwide action.
National Convention of Class Fronts and Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally in 2022-23: At the call of the first-ever Joint National Convention of Workers and Peasants, organised by our three class fronts at the Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi on 5 September 2022, a joint nationwide campaign was carried out and on 5 April 2023 the Mazdoor-Kisan Sangharsh Rally was held at the Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi, with impressive participation.
Massive Joint Brigade Parade Rally in West Bengal: On 20 April 2025, the three class fronts together with our urban slum-dwellers organization held a massive rally of lakhs of toilers at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata. All the fronts made intensive and extensive preparations for several weeks.
United Actions Planned for the Immediate Future: On 16 September 2025, a large joint nationwide convention of the main activists of all the three class fronts was held in Delhi. It has given big united action calls for November 26, 2025 and January 19, 2026.
Need to take Unity down to the Grassroots: While all these are welcome steps, it must be self-critically noted that the unity and coordination among the three class fronts achieved at the Centre has not yet percolated down sufficiently to the state, district and lower levels. This weakness must be corrected at the earliest, if the next stage of unity is to be attempted.
D. United Actions of Central Trade Unions and Samyukta Kisan Morcha
The farmers’ struggle of 2020–21 against the Modi government paved the way for welcome coordination between the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and the Central Trade Unions (CTUs). This was another very significant political advance. Eleven large nationwide protest actions in the last five years from 2020 to 2025, which have mobilised lakhs of working people across the country, have reinforced this unity. They have been enumerated in the Review document.
E. Experience of United Platforms and Joint Actions
In the last one decade, the Kisan Front has gained rich experience of working in united farmers’ platforms like the Bhumi Adhikar Andolan (BAA), All India Kisan Struggle Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) and Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) from 2015 onwards. The constituents of the SKM are ideologically spread across a wide spectrum – left, centre and right. The richest experience of united struggle during this period has, of course, been that of the historic year-long farmers’ struggle.
United issue-based struggles have helped to rally wider masses against the anti-peasant policies of the government and enabled us to reach newer sections and increase striking power in struggles. Our cadres should take the initiative and be proactive in joint actions.
But while doing all this, the key importance of independent struggles led by the Kisan Front must on no account be underplayed or neglected. In the last analysis, it is only through the increase in our independent struggles and our independent strength that the Kisan Front can emerge as a key constituent in united struggles.
Review of Implementation: Organisation
In this section, the creditable work done by the Kisan Front Centre, the need to strengthen the state and district centres, streamline the overall organisational picture of committee functioning, the urgent necessity of removing the chronic weakness in the functioning of the primary village units, the need to rapidly expand the work among women and youth, the stress on deepening independent and democratic functioning of the organisation, the need to radically improve the financial situation at all levels, and the work of the P Sundarayya Memorial Trust, have all been reviewed.
One encouraging feature has been the marked increase in Kisan Front membership during the last five years since 2020-21. This is a direct result of increased independent and united struggles and greater concentration on the organization. The All India membership of the Kisan Front was 1,17,41,313 in 2020-21, 1,36,78,785 in 2021-22, 1,43,69,371 in 2022-23, 1,46,88,994 in 2023-24 and 1,53,48,979 in 2024-25. There is a 36-lakh increase in five years, which is significant. However, we are well aware that tens of crores of peasants still remain outside our orbit and influence. The unevenness in membership between states continues to be a reason for worry. Another serious source of concern is that the membership of Hindi-speaking states has generally been stagnant.
New Directions for Developing the Kisan Front
This concluding section pinpoints some of the concrete issues of the rural poor which the Kisan Front needs to take up more vigorously in future.
The Political Review Report of the Central Committee adopted in November 2024, says in Para 16,
“We must seriously examine why we are not able to develop class struggles in the countryside based on poor peasants, agricultural workers and the rural poor. The updated Programme talks about the rise of a powerful nexus of landlords-rich farmers-contractors-big traders, who constitute the rural rich. We have not been able to mobilise the rural poor and sections of the peasantry to fight against the various forms of exploitation practiced by this rural rich nexus.” Again, the same Political Review Report says in Para 19, “But what is to be noted is the lack of struggles of the rural poor against the rural rich nexus, which is the crux of the class struggle in the countryside. Given the changed conditions, sustaining long term struggles to seize and occupy land belonging to the landlords is a difficult prospect. Recent experience shows that it is not easy to conduct prolonged struggle for higher agricultural wages against landlords and big farmers. In such circumstances, there are few and sporadic struggles against the exploitation by the rural rich nexus. It is, therefore, imperative that we further study the changes in the countryside and evolve new slogans and tactics based on uniting poor peasants-agricultural workers-rural poor to fight against the rural rice nexus on issues such as low wages, house sites, tenancy terms, exorbitant interest on loans, high charges for tractors, harvesters, etc.”
Hence, the Review has pinpointed some of the issues of struggle of the rural poor.
Continuing inequalities in land ownership in rural India point to the need to intensify class-based struggles for land. We must demand that state governments take possession of all remaining ceiling surplus lands and distribute all land that has already been taken possession of. Quick resolution of court cases related to ceiling surplus land must be done. All existing land reform laws, including on ceiling surplus land, pasture land, bhoodan land, benami land, temple land, and tenancy laws must be implemented in their true spirit. The government must identify and redistribute all such lands to the landless and marginalized communities.
We must also struggle forcefully for stringent review of illegally and arbitrarily rejected claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) and fast-track pending claims for distributing forest lands. We must demand that a national status paper be released on the extent and location of wasteland and bhoodan land in different states, and that all encroachments into these must be removed. The use of such land for industrial purposes must be severely restricted. We must demand that the government must withdraw from measures that aim to deregulate land use and create a free land market in the country. Consent and Social Impact Assessment must be the touchstones if agricultural land can be acquired for non-agricultural purposes or not.
In the phase of neo-liberal economic policies, the struggle against land grab has come to occupy great importance and the victory in any struggle for land rights is intrinsically linked with the success of struggles against indiscriminate land acquisition. Hence, apart from traditional land rights issues, the land grab issues must be taken up. The Kisan Front should also make specific demands arising from land acquisition not only for farmers who may lose land only for necessary public purposes, but also for the landless, agricultural workers, tenant cultivators, women and the marginalised sections. At the same time, in cases of unnecessary land acquisition for private purposes, there has to be a relentless struggle by all sections of the peasantry. The experience of successful struggles of this type in various states must be emulated.
The organisation of landless and poor tenants on their demands has been attempted in Andhra Pradesh where there is a separate organisation, and in Telangana. Tenant farmers have several serious issues, and raising their demands is antithetical to the interests of the rural rich.
The emergence of new agricultural money lenders drawn predominantly from the rural rich but also from certain sections of the rich peasantry is a notable feature. Such elements from the rural rich are often absentee landlords who rack-rent/lease out their land to tenant cultivators, corner all benefits like PM-Kisan, Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bharosa, etc, claim crop loans at low interest rates and lend to the peasantry at usurious rates. Even sections of the rich peasantry engage in such activity especially when they are leasing out part of their land. In the event of natural calamities and crop losses this section of new agricultural money lenders has no liability. The entire burden falls on the tenant cultivators. Demand for Licensed Cultivator Cards, protection from evictions, regulation of rent, institutional crop loans, partial refund of rent in case of crop losses etc., should be raised.
Decent living and working conditions for the poor peasantry and agricultural labourers, particularly their wages, must receive renewed priority in our struggles. New classes of labourers who work in agriculture are very different in their occupational characteristics and class consciousness. They are more of miscellaneous rural workers than a pure class of agricultural labourers. They are employed increasingly in piece-rated contracts than in individual time-rated contracts. There is increasing feminisation of labour in agriculture and a large class which is employed in MGNREGS. We need to urgently mobilise them into unions in every state.
Resolving the agrarian question today involves a wide range of new issues and demands. We must organise struggles and movements to end the extreme forms of rural misery that exist in our rural areas. We must organise to provide the rural working people with house-sites, and basic, clean, sanitary homes and habitations; to create the conditions for the liberation of the people of the SCs and STs, of women, and other victims of sectional deprivation; to vastly expand the functioning of the MGNREGS to provide at least 200 days of guaranteed employment to all adult members (not just one per family) of all rural households at minimum Rs 600 daily wage; to ensure universal formal school education and free primary health care to all; for universalisation of the public distribution system in the rural areas with an expanded set of food items; for the provision of a universal pension of at least Rs 10,000 per month; and to achieve the general democratisation of life and progressive cultural development in rural India.
The central leadership of the Kisan and Agricultural Workers Fronts, along with that of other leading peasant organisations, together with leading academics, journalists, etc, were part of the Kisan Mazdoor Commission (KMC) which prepared and declared its agenda and demands for the peasantry, especially the rural poor, before the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. We must plan steps to popularise and implement this agenda among the peasantry.
The BJP-RSS has been promoting Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in a big way. The BJP-led NDA regime’s real agenda is to use FPOs for creating a conducive atmosphere for agribusinesses and to help corporate aggregation. Already, most of the FPOs are being registered as Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs), and they are actually companies in partnership with some large business houses or corporates that will swallow them pretty fast. In Kerala and other states, FPOs with considerable funding to BJP activists are being set up.
With the setting up of the new Union Ministry of Cooperation in 2021, the BJP-RSS intervention in the cooperative sector throughout the country through the Sahakar Bharati and Multi-State Cooperatives must be specially noted by the Party and the Kisan Front. The BJP-RSS is also targeting cooperatives especially in Kerala, which has a vibrant and generally Left-led cooperative sector, and also in other states ruled by the opposition. This needs to be addressed by strengthening existing cooperatives and diversifying them from credit to also include production, processing, value addition and marketing.
In the face of corporate-led contract farming, corporate takeover of agriculture, and denial of remunerative MSP and minimum wage to agrarian classes, alternative policies to promote cooperative and collective farming must be encouraged by the State. This will help to resist corporate takeover of agriculture and also enable modernisation of agriculture on democratic and sustainable lines, help cost reduction, enhance production and productivity based on scientific and technological advances, and ensure the overall growth of productive forces.
About struggles, the Political Review Report states,
Three vital points must be kept in mind while building up class and mass struggles. One is our conscious adherence to the mass line at all levels, of constantly going to and learning from the people, and of consistently trying to lead the struggle to a successful conclusion. The second is to radically change our style of functioning and make it more democratic, inclusive, and participatory at all levels. The third is to break away from the usual routine and symbolic actions, and plan imaginative and effective forms of struggle, which will create a big impact. The peasant struggles like the Kisan Long March from Nashik to Mumbai and the Mahapadavs in Rajasthan are examples of such innovative forms of struggle.
Finally, the Review takes special note of the remarkable work put in for agriculture and the peasantry by the various Left-led state governments in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura from 1957 up to date.
Future Tasks
In view of the above Review Report and its main conclusions, it identifies and pinpoints the future tasks before the Kisan Front in the years ahead in two sections:
A. Tasks Related to the Kisan Front
Strongly oppose Trump’s Tariff Terrorism, free trade agreements and imperialist pressures.
Constant and effective political-ideological campaigns against communal and casteist forces.
Struggle against all forms of caste and gender oppression and discrimination.
Strengthen independent struggles on local issues on burning demands of the peasantry.
Organise the landless, tenants, and poor and middle peasants against the rural rich nexus.
Increase issue-based united struggles on burning anti-corporate peasant issues.
Fight corporate land-grab, identify and occupy ceiling surplus, unutilised acquired land.
Pay special attention to advance in tribal areas, and implementation of FRA and PESA.
Strengthen cooperatives, resist attacks on them, and intervene in them effectively.
Increase crop-based mobilisation and organisation that will help to draw in newer sections.
Consciously enlist women and youth in large numbers in struggles and in the leadership.
Strengthen the Kisan Front in weaker states, especially in Hindi-speaking states and NCR.
Vastly strengthen the entire organizational network, with maximum stress on village units.
Greatly increase membership of the Kisan Front in all states, with stringent scrutiny.
B. Tasks Related to the Party
Consciously implement the three key political tasks laid down by the 24th Party Congress, viz. substantial increase in the independent strength of the Party; resounding defeat of the RSS-BJP-led regime through forging a unity of all left, democratic and secular forces; and all efforts to build and strengthen a left and democratic alternative.
Effective political-ideological-agitational-cultural-organisational battle at all levels against neo-fascism, neo-liberalism, communalism, casteism, and authoritarianism represented by the RSS-BJP. Systematic efforts to greatly increase politicisation of the Kisan Front at all levels.
Concentrate on the crucial task of Party-building in the Kisan Front. Make efforts to greatly increase the quantity, quality and activeness of Party members. Under Party guidance, ensure regular branch functioning. Expand the Party’s political-ideological education manifold.
Identify, allot and financially assist adequate number of whole-timers for struggles, organisation, and expanding the Kisan Front. Party committees should ensure that the main functionaries of the Kisan Front at all levels should give priority to Kisan Front work.
Ensure independent and democratic functioning of the Kisan Front at all levels. Make conscious attempts to implement the mass line concretely and effectively.
Strengthen Worker-Peasant Unity with better coordination, joint campaigns as well as united struggles by the three class fronts and by the SKM and the CTUs.
Strengthen the functioning of the Party Subcommittees and Fractions. Organise periodic reviews of Kisan Front work. Sub-committees at the central and state levels should ensure in-depth study of the changes occurring in the agrarian scenario and make appropriate changes.