Punjab farmers who came to the capital after receiving an invitation from the government for a dialogue, were greatly disappointed when they were unable to meet Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. Instead, Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Aggarwal, who greeted them, was unable to provide any satisfactory answers to their queries. He could only use the bureaucratic language by reiterating that “let us discuss”, to which the farmers responded by stating with whom? While the minister was in the Cabinet meeting, his deputy was busy addressing farmers through video conferencing from the BJP headquarters. The impression that was given was that the government was not interested in factoring in any other point of view which was contrary to the official stand. What is a matter of immense concern is that the situation in Punjab and adjoining Haryana can only get worse if there is no dialogue.
The problem has also been complicated since the natural flair with which the Punjab farmers put across their point of view is laced with aggression. This the government of the day is unwilling to accept and thus has not responded in a positive manner to the demands that have been put. Those in power do not realise that when India was dependent on food aid from the Western countries and imported grains during the PL-480 period, it were principally farmers from Punjab and Haryana who accepted the challenge to make us self-sufficient in food grains. This they achieved in a record time and if there is surplus food in the country, the foundation for it was laid by the farmers from this region who were inspired and motivated by M.S. Swaminathan’s Green Revolution thesis.
Regardless of political parties who have been in power at the Centre, the farmers have never been granted their adequate dues. In an agrarian economy, those who drive it should be looked after well. The tearing hurry with which the farm laws were passed by Parliament, and subsequently received a nod from the President, has made farmers suspicious. They believe that this was being done to help corporate giants, and in the end they would be the losers. In Punjab and Haryana, daily life and politics is all linked to the farmer issues, and even the middlemen who procure the crop, are entwined in the system in such a manner that they are an inseparable part of the procurement and distribution process.
The government surely wants the farmers to be happy and is interested in getting them fair prices for their labour. However, there is a huge communication gap which has pitted the two sides as adversaries, rather than fellow travellers. The matter needs to be resolved to the satisfaction of all the parties without any further delay. There is no point in standing on an egoistic issue if the situation can be salvaged with a little bit of understanding and accommodation. The farmers are our own people and thus should be engaged rather than ignored.
