The government seems to have found a middle way to address the farmers’ concerns—put the reform laws on hold for a year-and-a-half. This is the latest suggestion offered to the protesting farmers during the 11th round of talks between the farmers and the government representatives. This comes after the Supreme Court intervention which had suggested a committee to look into the farm laws. But since the court-appointed committee’s brief was merely to relook the current laws and not repeal them, the farmers opted out of the committee. What didn’t help was that the committee was seen as being filled with pro-reformist members and also given a mandate of two months to submit its findings. This was seen by the farmers’ lobby as merely an instance of delaying the implementation of the laws by two months and also ensuring that the agitation loses its steam. For, as one farmers’ leader after the other said on TV: Once we disband, we cannot get the same momentum again, so we are not leaving till our demands are met. And their demand is simple: Roll back the laws.
Now this latest offer is not the rollback that they were hoping for, but it does give them a longer breather than the two months’ mandate of the court committee. Will the farmers take the bait? The mood is divided, the main concern being a lack of trust that this too is not a tactic to delay the inevitable. It is interesting that RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi too recently asked the government to show “sensitivity” in handling the farmers’ agitation. In an interview to The Indian Express he had stated: “It is not good for the health of society for any agitation to run for too long.” He asked the government to find a “middle way”. Apparently, this is the sentiment that was echoed at the RSS meet in Ahmedabad recently as well.
However, the latest approach seems to have hit some sort of a chord with the farmers who did not reject it outright as they did the earlier overtures. In fact, the farmer leaders were heard complaining that the ministers came late to meetings, issued ultimatums and left. For their part, government sources too claim that the farmers came to the meetings with their minds made up, so there was little one could do.
Well, at least some steps are being taken in the right direction. One can only hope that solutions are found sooner than later. The government may be working with a limited deadline of the 26 January parade, but for the farmers it’s much more than that.