There is a young and fast-rising face among the farmers protesting at Khanauri now for more than a year.
An engineer who moved into student politics and then farming, 31-year-old Abhimanyu Kohar is part of the farmer delegation that has been holding talks with the Centre, is a prominent presence by the side of fasting farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, and one of his spokespersons who gives daily briefings to the media at the Khanauri protest site on Punjab’s border with Haryana.
According to Kohar, he started working with farmers in Haryana even earlier, in 2014, soon after the newly elected NDA government led by Narendra Modi floated the land acquisition ordinance. (Express photo)
Kohar was also a part of the 40-member Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) committee formed during the 2020–21 agitation against the now-repealed three farm laws. But it’s only now that he has emerged as one of the agitation’s better-known faces, often seen explaining to the protesting farmers the importance of getting the government to concede to a guaranteed MSP for 23 crops.
Kohar’s association with Dallewal is through the Haryana-based Bhartiya Kisan Naujawan Union. Belonging to Chhinoli village in Haryana’s Sonipat, he is the president of the Naujawan Union, which is a constituent member of the SKM-Non-Political founded by Dallewal.
Kohar’s straight-talking approach and his comfort in Hindi and English is what led the SKM (Non-Political) to choose him as one of the spokespersons for its agitation. Plus, unlike other colleagues who can often stumble on data, he seems to have the relevant talking points on his fingertips.
Having graduated as an electrical engineer from Deen Bandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal in 2016, Kohar says he had an attractive offer from an MNC, but turned it down. “I preferred to remain a farmer because, by then, I had already started emerging as a student union leader.”
According to Kohar, he started working with farmers in Haryana even earlier, in 2014, soon after the newly elected NDA government led by Narendra Modi floated the land acquisition ordinance. “That’s when I decided I would not take up a private-sector job and instead work for farmers’ rights.”
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During the 2020-21 farm agitation, he was the national president of the youth wing of the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh, led by Shiv Kumar Kakka. In 2022, after the Bhartiya Kisan Naujawan Union was formed, he took over as its president.
Kohar says his family put no pressure on him to take up a job offer as they are themselves into farming.
Reiterating the SKM-Non-Political’s main demands, of legal guarantee for MSP on 23 crops and punishment for those purchasing below it, Kohar says: “Private players form cartels and buy crops like maize and cotton below MSP without any repercussions.” He said they had stressed on these demands in talks held with the Centre, and would do the same again in the next round, scheduled for March 19.
On the criticism against such a legal guarantee, such as “that it would cost Rs 17 lakh crore, disrupt the market, or drive traders out of business”, Kohar said: “We countered this argument (at the talks held with a panel of Union ministers on February 22), showing that the actual additional annual cost of implementing the MSP guarantee would be around Rs 25,000-Rs 30,000 crore.”
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Kohar also talks of RBI reports showing “farmers receive less than 30% of the final retail price of foodgrains”.
Tejveer Singh, the spokesperson of the BKU Shaheed Bhagat Singh, a constituent of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha protesting at Shambhu border, says Kohar has managed to draw many youngsters to the agitation. “He is a Haryanvi Jat who is representing Haryana farmers at the Khanauri border, and we are representing Haryana farmers at the Shambhu border,” says Tejveer.
Lakhwinder Singh Aulakh, the president of the Bharti Kisan Ekta – another Haryana-based union and a constituent of the SKM (Non-Political) – says Kohar’s presence counters the argument of the Centre that the ongoing agitation has no widespread support. “Contrary to BJP claims that the andolan is only of Punjab farmers, the presence of Haryana leaders is proof that the agitation is spread in other states as well, and seeking MSP is our legal right.”
Pointing to himself and others like him from states besides Punjab, Kohar says: “Has the Centre failed to notice us who have been sitting at the borders through all weather conditions?”