Privilege plays an important part in Indian society. The sense of importance of oneself that stems from privilege affects all categories of people but more so the lesser educated. Those who are lesser educated tend to hold on to it harder because it has taken them more effort to earn it. This is the root of the problem with the farm laws where the Prime Minister and the Agriculture Minister are not willing to accept a negotiated settlement. If you track the chronology of their overtures and responses to the farmers, the broad message is we have told you many a time that these laws are good for you. So cut the crap and toe the line. You really do not need to talk to me about this since my flunkies are good enough to deal with you. That is the reason why the PM has not deigned to give an audience to the farmers unions. He has gone all over the country talking about the farmer laws but has not talked about them to the farmers camping on the borders of the nation’s capital, Delhi. This is what is called circumlocution or a tangential approach to issues. This kind of approach never solves issues. It only tends to complicate them. Since nobody knows what to do everyone is waiting for a nod from the top for the next move.
The manner in which the government has dealt with the farmers is a shame. They have tried every trick in the book to intimidate the farmers. After name calling like terrorists, separatists and anti-nationals, they started attacking the supply lines to the farmers like food, transportation, etc. Those who were supplying food, mostly the gurudwara langar committees, and providing buses to the farmers were being investigated and raided. When all this failed and the agitation started to expand with the UP front emerging, the government started containing the protesters at the sites. Ditches were dug up near the protesters camps, so that more farmers could find it difficult to join the agitation and also make it difficult for food supplies to reach the agitators. Barricades along with barbed wire were put up near the farmers’ camps to restrict them. The police and paramilitary presence was increased manifold. TV footage of the camps indicates that it is probably enemy territory but the anomaly or the funny thing is that the government is doing all this against our own people.
Upon seeing the barricading that is being done around the farmers’ camps on Delhi’s borders which is akin to what you see around boat refugee camps in Europe and Australia or concentration camps for war prisoners, the equivalent analogy that comes to mind straight away is that our government is unable to face a foreign country like China which incursion was happening around the same time that the farmers’ agitation was ballooning but we are flexing our muscles and drum-beating in front of our farmers with the intention to bully them.
It is now over 100 days that the farmers have sat in protest and the government has not been able to find a solution. Why should this be? Does this government not have effective people to deal with such situations? Every single agitation has been allowed to drag on like the student agitations at JNU and Osmania University, the CAA agitations across the country which was disbanded only after the COVID-19 pandemic started spreading, and now the farmers’ agitation. Inefficiency and bullheadedness seems to be the hallmark of Modi’s government.
As for the farmers it is a matter of hurt pride for them. After not having been consulted extensively before the laws were brought into force, not given a patient and responsive ear to their representations thereafter, insulted and derided with political colour attributed to their agitation and not giving serious approach and thought by the government for the resolution discussions, the farmers have got their backs up and a harder resolve to keep the agitation going. However, as they go forward the farmers have to be wary. The first thing is that both the Prime Minister and Home Minister are in election mode now. It is their preferred and most coveted area of activity. Therefore until the scheduled elections in the 4 States are over by April/May, no discussions will take place with the farmers.
So they need to be prepared for a long, hot summer in the open camps after a hard and long winter. Even after that it is important for the farmers to be careful since the government will not admit their leadership’s preoccupation with the State elections and will try to pass on resolution delays onto the farmers. On the pretext of the adamancy shown by the farmers, the government may resort to strong-arm methods like water cannons, rubber bullets, etc and more. Therefore it is important that the farmers look after their own safety as the agitation progresses.
Concluding one must say that never in independent India has one seen close to 2 lakh of its citizens camping around the capital, Delhi agitating on issues for periods now extending beyond 100 days with the government not taking any serious steps to resolve the contentious matters. If this precedent is set then those who have grouses against the government will take their agitations to Delhi making it the Satyagraha capital of India.
(The author is a retired engineer and a social activist)
