It is a sentiment expressed widely across the protest epicentre – through posters, chants and effigies or just terse statements by sloganeering women marchers. Explaining their distrust, Waryam Singh Sandhu, an Indian author (recipient of Shitya Akademi award) and several others cited how the Government had got the three ‘anti-farmer’ laws enacted “chupkese”(sneakily) while the people were battling Covid-19.
It is known to many that the laws were brought through ordinances in June, 2020 when the country was under lockdown. Later, in September, the bills were rushed through Parliament by a much-contested voice vote. By then, NJP ally Akali Dal had pulled out its minister in protest against the bills and parties seen as friendly to the government had either opposed the bills or asked for them to be sent to the Select Committee in Parliament. Neither option did see the light of the day. “This is a ploy by the government,” Waryam said, implying the government’s promise to keep the laws in abeyance was an attempt to trick the farmers into ending their protest.
Rai Singh, a Jat farmer from Haryana is reported to have said, “Hum yahanse hatne wale nahi hain; 2024 tak baithengge, lekin kanoon radd kiye bina ghar nahi lautengge (We won’t retreat. We will sit here till 2024 [if necessary], we won’t return till the laws have been repealed)”. This resolve of the farmers must not be taken lightly. Protesting farmers’ rejection of the government’s offer to suspend the implementation of the three laws for the time being is based on their lack of confidence in the administration. Besides, the farmers now feel the offer reflects how their agitation has forced the government into a climb down and that a final push would force it to repeal the laws.
Rajkumar Danda, a Jat farmer from Jind, is reported (the Telegraph dt. 23th January, 2021) to have uttered that he had been a ‘Modi bhakt’ but isn’t any more now. “We were fed up with the Congress and saw a lot of hope in Modi. But now my faith in him has been shattered. If these laws are implemented, the farmers will be at the mercy of Adani and Ambani,” he said.
It is further reported that Rajkumar and a friend, Baljit Singh, displayed the “pagdis” (turbans) they had worn as a mark of solidarity with their Sikh brethren from Punjab. It is true that BJP was trying to divide Punjab and Haryana but more and more farmers, mostly Jats from Haryana, are joining the agitation.
It is but an irony that most of the political leaders associated especially with the Bhartiya Janata Party appear to be giving least importance to the fact that socio-economic development is rather impossible without social harmony. Unfortunately, even our Prime Minister appears to be neglecting this truth. It is not erased from our memory that our Prime Minister came with huge announcements in various fields. But what happened? What has happened to the economy, to the level of education, to creation of jobs? The level of violence in the society has touched the immeasurable height. Harmony is the basis upon which the structure of development rests. But, the current government has created a huge amount of disharmony which begets miseries.
The frequent protests in the country reflect the government’s attempt to impose one idea, one ideology, to force this country to do what it does not want to do. There is an attempt to capture institutions. Instead of conversations about how to solve problems, the government thinks it can impose its views. But shortly they will find out this is not possible. Farmers are not listening to the Prime Minister because he wants to impose upon them what might cause misery and devastation to the larger segments of the population.
The Government’s entire focus is on the largest players while the need of the hour is to do hand-holding of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) which is the future. We can’t compete with China without empowering the MSMEs. Without taking concrete steps in this respect socio-economic development will remain a mere dream in the wilderness. The Government must strive for bringing smile onto the face of every Indian irrespective of caste, creed, language and religion. Members of the BJP must give a little importance and weight to what the great Washington Irving once said, “Surely happiness is reflective, like the light of heaven; and every countenance, bright with smiles, and glowing with innocent enjoyment, is a mirror transmitting to others the rays of a supreme and ever-shining benevolence.”
I quote a few lines from the editorial column from the Telegraph dt. 25th January, 2021. “It is in the nature of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to blame others for its own bungling. Typically, the Union agriculture minister, N.S. Tomar, has passed the buck on to an ‘external force’ that has apparently prevented the resolution of the ongoing agitation by farmers against three contentious legislations. Mr. Tomar’s search for a scapegoat is understandable; the farmers are on record saying that the yawning trust deficit between Narendra Modi’s government and the agitators is the principal reason behind the continuity of the protests. It is this inability to believe in an elected government that has prevented the farmer unions from even accepting the Centre’s offer of keeping the law in abeyance for a certain amount of time.”
Sooner the Government changes its approach and takes concrete steps for the development of the society, taking the farmers of the country in full confidence by repealing the contentious laws in real terms, it is better for the nation. But the pathetic incidences that occurred on 26th January, 2021 cast but a gloomy shadow over the Kisans’ agitation.