If Rakesh Tikait had not raised the slogan of Allah-U-Akbar at the flop mahapanchayat at Muzaffarnagar, this would have gone unnoticed. Now, most people would wait for the so-called Bharat Bandh on 27 September to become flop too. People are angry at the obduracy of Tikait and his ilk and are amused that the government is not acting tough against them.
Frustrations on Tikait are palpable. Now, none is talking of the issues involving farmers. The buzzword is elections in Uttar Pradesh, damaging the potential of the group under Tikait and the attempt to communalise the situation. Politics is the biggest leveller and once Tikait and his followers are defeated lock, stock and barrel, the issue would reach its logical end.
The person who lost elections badly and is only a paper tiger challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contest and win from Gujarat. Crazy is what one would say to such a comment. The Prime Minister would win from any seat in the country. In fact, every candidate of the BJP during 2019 or 2014 won due to the image of Narendra Modi.
Such wild statements can be given only by persons who are frustrated. This was evident when Tikait exhorted the crowd to chant Allah-U-Akbar, but the response that came was Har Har Mahadev. He justified saying that he would make people chant Allah-U-Akbar and yet there would be no riot.
Any person would ask the rationale for such a statement at a farmer’s rally. Hindus are liberal and they may chant Allah-U-Akbar, but they may ask a question: Can Tikait make any of his Muslim followers chant Har Har Mahadeo. Let him try this and see him face the music.
By making Hindus chant Allah-U-Akbar Tikait is trying to communalise the political atmosphere. Muslims of the State should know that Tikait is their new missionary and they should vote for any party or candidate he would support. But he is forgetting that this has the potential for reverse polarisation. What is surprising is the critics and the media that go berserk if Jai Shri Ram is chanted at any rally are silent on this.
And the core issue is are these on the agenda of farmer leader Tikait? Is he now going to define secularism or give new colour to it? Is he going to decide which party should come to power? The moment one starts taking the political side, one loses credibility. Since UP elections are crucial for the survival of the Opposition, there would be no holds barred abuses and the biggest casualty would be political morality.
It is going to be free for all- whether Asaduddin Owaisi or Tikait or various shades of Azam Khan. The beeline for Muslim votes has begun. There would be competition for who wears Islam on the sleeves. The situation is likely to become so explosive that even a soft counter to such attempts at communalisation would send most of these parties packing.
The fraud of Tikait in the name of farmers’ agitation is getting exposed with every such episode. They have created massive traffic disturbance due to their sit-in dharna on the national highway. People are angry but since they are very tolerant, they prefer to take a longer route on their journey rather than confront those supporting the agitation.
Of course, you have a right to protest. But your right to protest cannot be at the cost of an ordinary person’s right to unhindered passage. Protest should take place only at designated places otherwise the law of the jungle would prevail. The velvet glove approach of the government should not be taken as a sign of weaknesses.
It is sad that some people are still unable to see the irony of the situation where a law enacted by Parliament is being sought to be annulled by agitators on the streets. They have no respect for the Constitution or the Apex Court that tried to intervene. The right to peaceful protest should not become an instrument to create chaos. Go and campaign against the government’s policies or vote out a government you do not want. But don’t make it look like ‘Tyranny of the Minority’.
Everyone knows that the leaders of the agitation and those parties supporting it are trying to provoke the government to act tough, something which the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government did to unsuspecting Baba Ramdev at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi in 2011. These farm leaders are lucky that the Prime Minister and his colleagues firmly believe in democracy. They know that people would do justice. In any action by the State, it is the innocent who would be made to suffer and these leaders would run away.
Everyone knows that the agitation is due to political reasons. No agitating leader is able to defend their counter of the three legislations concerning the farming community. Their simple one-point assertion is ‘scrap the laws’. Who are they? And why should the government listen to their unreasonable demands?
Already ten rounds of talks have happened with agitation leaders without results. In any negotiation, there has to be give and take. They would go to the meeting with only one agenda. What is the point of having such a meeting then? Talk for what? The false narrative that the government would gradually do away with MSP (Minimum Support Price) has fallen flat. More expenses have been incurred on buying Kharif and Rabi crops under the MSP. And MSP is not an issue of these farm legislations.
Never seen such a madness other than those that had happened during anti-CAA protests at Shahin Bagh and other places. The agitation was against the imagined possibility that the government would de-franchise Muslims. The CAA legislation was to give citizenship and not to take away anything.
The same madness is seen in the so-called farmers’ agitation. The new provisions are not taking away the rights of the farmers to continue in their old ways. These are merely trying to enable progressive farmers to make the best of the situation by getting better linkages with the market. The two parallel systems would continue. These agitators know that farmers would be happy and they would become better. Hence, they have added issues such as the MSP etc.
No government would allow farmers to suffer. Allow the system to roll out. If the system fails to empower farmers and becomes an instrument to exploit them, there would be revision and change. Private banks were nationalised and they were privatised again. We are again witnessing a situation of consolidation. Agriculture needs reforms and failure to bring reforms has prevented farmers from realising their highest potential.
Genuine concerns need to be addressed. But demands guided by political motivations would not cut ice with a government that has such massive public support. Government makes policies for people who do not even have a voice. Let those voiceless people gain through reforms. Middlemen cannot decide the fate of the huge farming community.
The writer is the convener of the Media Relations Department of the BJP and represents the party as a spokesperson on TV debates. He has authored the book ‘Narendra Modi: The Game Changer’. Views expressed are writer’s personal.
It is sad that some people are still unable to see the irony of the situation where a law enacted by Parliament is being sought to be annulled by agitators on the streets. They have no respect for the Constitution or the Apex Court that tried to intervene. The right to peaceful protest should not become an instrument to create chaos. Go and campaign against the government’s policies or vote out a government you do not want. But don’t make it look like ‘Tyranny of the Minority’.