Who won over the repeal of the farm laws?

The early morning announcement that Modi will be addressing the nation at 9 a.m. robbed me of my morning walk as I sat to probe into the pre-poll cosmic depths of various possibilities.

The announcement was over the three farm laws, call it withdrawal, annulment, or repeal. The laws were passed hastily in the parliament, without examination by the parliamentary committees, without any meaningful debates, and with opposition absent. The move was bad in a democracy.

Ever since, many farmers rose in revolt, leaving their ploughs and tractors back and choking the roads to Delhi, challenging the laws in the Supreme court, forcing the government on the backfoot. The SC has stayed the laws, but the government has declined to withdraw the laws. Under the leadership of Rakesh Tikait of the BKU from 9th August 2020, the farmers’ protests have been largely peaceful. There have been attempts by several outfits inimical to India to infiltrate the protests for a confrontation with the government like the one that happened on republic day in Delhi.

Meanwhile, a section of media has assailed Tikait, the farmers calling them anti-nationals and motivated by vested political opposition. Announcements of higher volume and value procurement and direct transfers were flowing in from government agencies and pet media, making the striking farmers appear enemies of the nation.

A Supreme Court-appointed committee has submitted its confidential report before the court. Kerala, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Delhi and West Bengal have passed resolutions against the farm acts, and three states, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, have tabled counter legislation in their respective state assemblies. The counter legislation must pass the scrutiny of the governors, which it has not.

The Central Government acted in haste and could not recall the controversial laws merely because of ego and the image-loss. Instead, a few politicians arrogantly and unintelligently defended the benefits accruing to the farmers and painted the protestors as villains. Why would the farmers, or even a section of them, agitate for 467 days if the laws benefitted them?

The farmers cannot survive without government support, right from the easy availability of finance and seeds, subsidized fertilizers, minimum support prices for procurement and regulating the exports and imports to keep the prices under control. The government must not get into the micro-management of the farming sector like it tried to do now. If the government tried to tame the mandis, it was also creating the penetration of corporates into the farms.

John F. Kennedy famously said, ‘Success has many fathers; failure is an orphan.’ So, it is no surprise that every political opposition party is now shouting hoarse that their protest made the government buckle under pressure and announced the repeal of the farm laws.

The move could be the pressure from the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh and Punjab elections, but thank you Prime Minister Modi Ji for your climb down in the larger interest of the nation. Tikait must reciprocate by withdrawing the agitation, valuing the words of the PM.

Democracy, satyagraha and the nation won!

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix