‘The largest, the longest and the most powerful nationwide farmers’ struggle in the history of India and also in the world, with the exception of the momentous Chinese Revolution.’—Ashok Dhawale, President, All India Kisan Sabha
Between November 2020 and December 2021, hundreds of thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and beyond occupied the borders of Delhi. For over a year they braved winter cold, summer heat, and state violence to demand the repeal of three farm laws that would have opened agriculture to corporate takeover. Their persistence forced the government to withdraw the laws—the first major retreat by the Modi regime.
Sociologist Virinder Kalra spent time among the protestors, listening to their testimonies, observing everyday life in the encampments, and documenting the cultural expressions that flourished there. In Hope for Everyone, he offers one of the first comprehensive accounts of this historic movement. Drawing on union publications, digital archives, and his own fieldwork, Kalra situates the protest within a longer history of agrarian struggle, from the ecological devastation of the Green Revolution to the authoritarian turn of the present. He foregrounds the voices of women, Dalits and labourers, showing how the camps became spaces of resilience, solidarity, and learning as well as of contestation.
More than a chronicle of a single victory, this book captures the movement’s enduring significance: a collective insistence on dignity, democracy and hope. Among the earliest and most detailed records of the farmers’ struggle, Hope for Everyone is indispensable reading for anyone seeking to understand India today, and the global stakes of resistance to authoritarian capitalism.