It’s indeed very interesting. We have the government insisting that the farm reforms are all being undertaken keeping the farmers’ benefits in mind, but the farmer himself is arguing otherwise. In fact, I have heard more than one farmer refer to these bills as a “zabardasti ka fayda” (benefit that is being forced upon the recipient). The farmers are very clear that they see these reform bills as anything but beneficial. So, why is the government so keen to force these benefits onto a recipient who clearly doesn’t want them?
In fact this could be a lesson that the Modi government can take from these protests, to stop these “zabardasti ka faydas”. We were given a similar story during demonetisation, that it was all being done for our benefit when the move broke the backs of the smaller shopkeepers, traders and builders. It was the poor and salaried class that bore the brunt of demonetisation. The very rich managed to convert all their money (for to grease the requisite palms you need to be well off yourself). However full marks to the Prime Minister’s credibility that he managed to market this move which would have boomeranged badly on a lesser, less consummate politician; but demonetisation hasn’t affected PM Modi’s winnability one bit. We saw a similar narrative at play during a badly implemented and unwieldy GST and the divisive CAA laws to name a few, but the PM has emerged unscathed from all these “zabardasti ka faydas”. As he has from the aftereffects of the world›s longest lockdown and the migrant crisis it created.
Will the PM emerge unscathed from the farmers’ crisis too, or will his credibility take a hit? Certainly, the government and the BJP are at pains to assure us that this is a region-specific protest. It is true that the BJP has very little at stake in Punjab (it didn’t vote for the BJP even during the Modi wave) but don’t forget that the omnipresent Punjabi knows no boundaries. And the Sikhs are the one community that Modi-Shah cannot play the nationalism card against. The armed forces are full of Sikhs as were those who fought against the British during the freedom struggle.
The YouTube is full of videos of Sikhs from the CRPF to the army stating bluntly that if need be they will resign and join their brothers at the borders but they will not use force against them.
As one Sikh gentleman stated quite bluntly, whom will the government use to keep our borders safe against the Chinese, if not the Sikhs?
What happens to the protest and how the PM resolves this standoff will be interesting, as will be the fact as to whether this government has learnt anything at all from this face-off. Taking unilateral decisions without any discussion or consensus and just assuming that the beneficiary needs these reforms are not the way to practise sabka saath, sabka vishwas (take everyone along). It is as simple as that.
Priya Sahgal