Placing an X on a ballot paper every now and then does not constitute democracy. If people are misinformed, misled and manipulated to think and act in a certain way, while backroom deals are carried out without their knowledge, then what value 'democracy'? Then there is no freedom, no self-determination. Someone else is determining the agenda.

The Quit India Movement was launched by Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress on 8 August 1942, demanding the immediate end of British rule in India. It inspired a mass civil disobedience campaign featuring strikes, demonstrations and sabotage, despite the British arresting Gandhi and many Congress leaders immediately after the movement's start.

The movement saw remarkable nationwide participation—including women, students, workers and peasants. Although it was violently suppressed by the colonial authorities, it galvanised the struggle for independence. The Quit India Movement significantly weakened British authority, promoted unity among diverse groups and set the stage for India's eventual independence.

Now, in 2025, the spirit of the Quit India Movement is being explicitly invoked by today's farmer protests to inspire unity, resilience and a nationwide call to action.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM)—a coalition of 40-plus farmers' unions across India—is at the forefront of a continuing struggle against government policies that are eroding rural livelihoods, national sovereignty and federal governance. Their concerns centre on an emerging authoritarian central government controlled by corporate interests and international finance capital, which threatens to subordinate the role of India's states and dismantle vital protections for farmers and rural communities.

SKM, alongside allied organisations such as the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), argues that the Union Government's push for agricultural reforms under slogans like 'One Nation, One Market' jeopardises the constitutional federal structure. These reforms—including the draft National Policy Framework on Agriculture Marketing (NPFAM)—seek to unify India's disparate agricultural marketing systems into a centralised, corporatised national market.

According to the SKM, this transformation will severely diminishe the decision-making power of state governments over agriculture, land, industry and markets—domains constitutionally assigned to them.

The NPFAM draft envisions a rescaling of agricultural marketing, replacing state-regulated wholesale markets (mandis) and rural haats with private, corporate-controlled entities integrated via Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and blockchain technologies. Under this model, powerful private corporations, including conglomerates like Adani, Ambani, Tata, Cargill, Pepsi, Walmart, Bayer and Amazon, would engage directly with farmers, bypassing traditional state-regulated market structures. The consolidation of storage facilities and marketing channels under corporate control raises fears of price manipulation and diminishes farmers' negotiating power.