Anil Anand
Post storming of the historic ‘Lal Qila’, the symbol of India’s sovereignty, by a group of miscreants under the garb of farmers’ protest, against three farm laws, there are no signs of ease where there should have been to break the logjam. Instead, fortification of the Delhi-UP and Delhi-Haryana borders by the Government, where farmers are protesting in order to prevent any attempt at entering Delhi, and nationwide three-hour ‘chaka jaam’ call given by the farmers’ unions has resulted in further hardening of stand on both the sides.
The fortification of the borders by Delhi Police which is unprecedented and never seen earlier has its genesis in the protestors laying siege to ‘Lal Qila’. The Delhi Police Commissioner, Mr S N Shrivastava was right when he attributed the multi-layered sealing of the borders to prevent recurrence of protestors storming Delhi. But he also has a moral duty to explain as to how the tractors could drive unhindered from the borders to the lawns of ‘Lal Qila’.
How and why the protestors on the previous date managed to swarm the roads of Delhi on Republic Day? This question warrants an answer too, along with efforts to ensure that no one again manages to rise atop the ramparts of ‘Lal Qila’ and unfurl any flag other than the Tricolour.
Merely digging up the roads and laying multi-layers of barbed fencing alongside concrete slabs to corner the protesting farmers will not convince the country. If that was not enough, the Government has snapped internet links and water and power supply to the camp sites of the protesting farmers both in both UP and Haryana.
These by no stretch of imagination are goodwill measures that could mollify the protesting farmers and convince them that the Government meant business and was ready to walk an extra mile to end the stalemate. A natural corollary of these hardened steps by the Government was that the farmers, already braving the intense cold conditions have started talking in terms of intensifying their stir.
The Government seems to have adopted a wait and watch policy which is based on the premise that the protesting farmers would soon tire out and accept the farm laws as it is, and abandon the path of agitation. So, far this policy has miserably failed and has not been able to puncture the farmers’ spirit despite nearly 170 of them having lost their lives while protesting.
Logically, in the backdrop of these disturbing developments the Government and its agencies should have taken a human view of the situation in its entirety. Maintaining law and order is one significant aspect of this scenario which is multi-dimensional. There is no denying the fact that there is a strong element of politics both from the sides of the ruling dispensation as well as the opposition parties which is inevitable in a democratic set up. But more importantly there are strong societal and human aspects which override all other factors which should have been kept in mind by the Government from the very beginning. It would have automatically put spokes on the issue getting subsumed in politics had the Government’s negotiators kept these two aspects in mind.
By putting the agitating farmers to inconvenience through cutting supplies of all essential commodities and channels of transportation the Government certainly has an upper hand for now. But the corresponding reports of mobilisation of more and more farmers by the ‘khaps’ and ‘panchayats’ and egging them on to march and join the protestors, should immediately set the Government quarters thinking.
The central theme of the Government’s approach should be that it is dealing with its own people no matter on which side of the political divide they are which up till now has been missing. By simply making it either a law and order or security issue or question of prestige will only further complicate the problem.
The Budget Session of Parliament has already begun. It was an opportunity for the Government to make a suo motu offer for discussion on farmers’ agitation and the related issue. This would have enhanced the Government’s credibility and cleared their intention as to how meaningfully they looked at the whole issue. Unfortunately, there is no indication so far to this effect.
Prolonging the stalemate is not in the national interest. It is not in the interest of either the Government-ruling party or even the protesting farmers. Allowing the current situation to perpetuate without any attempts at resolution will only put the nation under the international gaze which is undesirable at this juncture when the country is moving on a path to revival of the economy and become a world economic power.
Laudable steps have been taken by the Government in this direction. This intention has been strongly reflected in the Budget 2021-22. The impact of the budgetary intentions would have been manifolds had the farmers not been protesting in the outskirts of the capital city.
The Government must match its words with actions. It should make some goodwill gestures for fresh negotiations with the farmers. As a beginning immediate restoration of power and water supply and internet network should be ordered. There is no harm if Union Agriculture Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar is deputed by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to visit the protest sites. A tweet by Mr Modi to condole the deaths of protesting farmers would have a dramatic effect on the protestors’ psyche though it has already been inordinately delayed. The Government’s studied silence on these deaths coupled with spokespersons of the ruling party raising doubts about so many farmers having actually died protesting, has only vitiated the atmosphere and added to the distrust.
The Government’s earlier offer to put the three farm laws under freeze for one and a half year was a welcome though half-hearted move. The negotiators from the Government side should have made efforts to convince the farmers to see good intention behind such a move and built the edifice for a future dialogue on this. The repeated offer by the Government to discuss the farm laws clause by clause instead of building on the goodwill of suspending the laws for a specific period, has led to the situation remaining a non-starter of sorts.
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