The Farmers Agitation 2020

It has been quite a long time since I wrote a post dedicated to politics, which by the way is one of my favorite subject. Before proceeding I must confess that it is difficult to use personal laptop now a days after using the office laptop for 5 days a week, mainly because of the size of keyboard. 

2nd and 3rd February 2021. I witnessed some ruthless politics. Ruthless here is used as a figure of speech. Just because a few international celebrities tweeted about the ongoing farm agitation, the whole government stood up in arms to take on those individuals. They even asked Indian celebrities from all walks of life like the government's favorite Bollywood, then cricket arena like Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Virat Kohli etc. or singer as Lata Mangeshkar to tweet in support of the government. All their tweets clearly seemed to be scripted words which talked about sovereignty of the country being attacked. I was taken aback surely, for all of a sudden, so many people added in the army for defending the government. But more I was surprised on the thought that when, actually, our sovereignty was attacked the same government had stayed in denial until reports finally came about death of our brave soldiers. So it means that a tweet coming in the country is more harmful than outsiders infiltrating the borders.

The year had already started with the backdrop of Farmers Agitation which was going on since November 2020. The cooperation and openness of the current establishment was visible clearly when the police had halted all the farmers at the borders and did not allow them to enter the capital. Even the multiple round of talks between the farmer unions and government had ended in stalemate. Two things, were the government and farmers had come to an agreement was to decriminalise the stable burning & to keep  a tab on the rise in power tariffs. But the Unions have a clear agenda, to scrap the three contentious farm laws in it's entirety. Whereas the Union has made their stand clear, the laws are here to stay.

So before understanding the agitation, let me first give you a layman view of what the laws are and why will they impact the farmers for which they are hell bent to withdraw it.

By leaving the names and technical aspects, I will just give you a gist of the laws. 

One law will be giving farmers the right to sell their produce outside the Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMC) at pre-agreed price. The government says this will reduce the mandi tax which the farmers are currently paying to the state governments.

Second law allows farmers to undertake contract farming and sell their produce freely in the market.

Third one is an amendment to the Essential Commodities Act which will now allow farmers to sell foodgrains, edible oil, pulses and onions freely in the market. Currently their prices are regulated by the government as they are part of basic necessity. The only exception to this will be in the times of crisis.

So, isn't it luring? I mean you must be thinking now, why are the farmers not happy with this? They are getting a huge market, good price, multiple buyers etc.

Let us now see the between the lines stuff. What are farmers worried about:

- By allowing the products to be sold in free market and not in APMC the farmers will have to forego MSP or Minimum Support Price. MSP is the rate at which the government offers to buy the farmers produce irrespective of market conditions. So this is an assured income for the farmer. And the new law is luring farmers by telling them they can sell their produce at market rates to any one outside the APMC at any rate. Now let us take a practical example of our jobs. We all know how companies are profitable during most part of the year and is suddenly short of cash exactly when appraisals are due. Here we are talking about farmers, the majority population, who have always been living in difficult times. Every business house will be awaiting to exploit them further, to just maximise their profits. Just today (3rd Feb 2021) I read in the newspaper about a farmer dumping his entire cauliflower produce on the road because the trader offered him Rs. 1/- per kilo. And mind you, few weeks ago when I had bought a ball of cauliflower it was Rs. 95/- per kilo. Many a times, ynou also must have seen the scenes on T.V. when dairy farmers spill the entire milk on the road when they use to not get their desired prices.

- I am not sure if you ever heard the term Contract farming before but it is very much popular in Poultry industry. Yes, majority in poultry business are into Contract Farming. And we have seen so many poultry business flourish, of which one became so rich that they own a football club in England. So why should the farmers be not happy with this? Here again, the catch is in the word Contract. Since government is removing APMC which means the farmer will be contracting with business houses to sell their produce. So these corporates will surely not be buying what the farmer has to sell to them, but they will be asking the farmer what to produce, how much to produce and when to produce? This hits our basic roots of farming in the country because not all farmers are having acres of land and properties that can suit a business house requirements who today might order one product and tomorrow another. There are so many farmers in our country who have been carrying out traditional farming of fixed items for generations.

Plus we have also heard about so many stories about families who are fighting civil suits against some of their family member as to will gain that small plot of land left by their forefathers. So if these farmers are now instructed about what to produce then how are they going to fill their families stomach? Plus there are worldwide examples as to why this is not at all a good idea as there is no security net to the farmers. If you want to see Indian examples, check out Pepsico history who had entered into contract with farmers for cultivating tomato, chillies and potato. And how did that venture proved to be?

Apart from the main two reason above there are some more technical aspects which I will just point out but won't detail them here:

- Agriculture, as a subject, falls in the State List and not in Union List of the Constitution of India. It means the state should be forming laws pertaining to agriculture and not the central government. So the Federal structure has been by-passed here.

- Civil courts will have no jurisdiction in these laws. So no easy redressal for the farmer when he/she will have to go against the mighty corporate houses.

- The laws were passed as a Ordinance during Lockdown and then cleared in parliament where they have full majority. No stakeholders were consulted before.

I am sure, what was appearing to be luring sometime ago, there must be some doubt or change in your perspective towards the current farmers agitation.

Well, now comes the bad part. Inspite of so much support or rather I would use the term sympathy the famers are receiving, the current establishment is not leaving a single stone unturned to portray them as anti nationals or terrorists.

Let us start from the media. Whoever classified media as Fourth Pillar of Democracy must have missed out to mention the expiry date. The only thing that has been played on T.V screens 24/7 is how the farmers are playing sports, doing exercises, eating pizzas etc. Hardly I believe there are any journalists left who actually want to cover what is going on. They just have been handed a script of what has to shown on the television. So, all, the media personnels do is search for incidents or characters or create one to be shown on T.V. that will suit the agenda. No media house is ready to talk about the technicalities of the bills, the way in which the bills were cleared during the time of Lockdown without any question answer session etc. What interests them more is how much traffic is caused because of the farmers agitation. One common question I remember many media people were asking the people at ground zero was, "Do you know how to do farming?" This question was targeted to people who are not farmers but they have too come out in support of the agitation. And I do not recollect any one asking the technicalities of Lokpal Bill to people who had participated in the 2011 Anna Hazare Movement.

Speaking of the man himself, the crusader for the Jan Lokpal Bill, I am not sure if you had heard the news that Anna Hazare was planning to go on Fast in support of Farmers Agitation. But everyone saw when he called off his fast in the presence of Leader of Opposition of Maharashtra who coincidentally belongs to the same group who have are in power in the country. Firstly, no one is aware as to why or what were the reasons to go on fast? And then, nobody will ever come to know the reason for calling off the fast. But one incident I will surely mention here for the record because history will not be remembering the same as the erasing procedure must have already been initiated. In the press conference were the fast was being called off, a journalist asked Anna Hazare that after announcing a fast and immediately calling it off, will not that have impact on your credibility? Anna Hazare himself were quiet as if his face suggesting he didn't had any answer to that question. Then after sometime the leader of opposition said something in Annas' ears and declared to the media that there is no need to give an answer thus putting curtains on the press conference.

The State governments in each state were taking stand based on their then requirement. Like for example, in Maharashtra among the ruling coalition, the two Congress partners had not supported the bills whereas their new found friend, SS, had supported the bills in lower house. But after seeing the mood of the nation, they shifted their stance in the Upper House. Some state, like Punjab, had passed ordinances to not give effect to the law in their state.

The internet bots or trolls though do not need a mention here but unfortunately, they are the ones who decide the mood of the nation today and the educated class forces common public to believe them too. The flow of tweets, hashtag wars tells us what the people of this country opine about an issue. But see the fun part here. The change in tone of tweets or status messages was also clearly visible. 

When the protest began, the message was spread initially by explaining how the farmers were being mislead by some political parties with vested interests. And that they (Ruling Party) have complete sympathy with the farmers. Then, one day, a video surfaced about a late former external affairs minister (Of same Party), who had given a speech in parliament which was somewhat related to the current farmers issue. So now the bots shifted a gear by showing how the protesting farmers are eating pizza, organising Kabaddi games at the venue and how their egos of not listening to government are hurting the real poor farmers of the country. 

When they realised that still the public sympathy was with the farm agitation and most round of talks were ending in stalemate. So bots shifted another gear and brought the terror angle in between along with their all time favorite item on the menu, anti national. 

But then later again, news started coming from Maharashtra that farmers in huge numbers have started their journey to reach the Delhi border and join the protesting farmers. So the bots now shifted another gear to classify the farmers into political parties saying the protesting people are mainly from the Communist parties. This, I believe, will go on until and unless they have it there way.

Another tragedy, was the news reporting on this issue. I do not know the number of farmers who committed suicide because the news reporters were told to turn a blind eye to those incidents. And ofcourse, also the pictures of police lathi charge on the farmers.

One thing what not many people noticed here is the powerful politics of the ruling dispensation. Everytime they reminded the nation, in between the lines, that we are here and we mean business. In such type of protests, a sympathy wave is generally created in support of the protestors. And sometimes it reaches to such extent, that the ruling parties are declared guilty in the people eyes. This is exactly what happened during the 2011 Anna Hazare movement. The India Against Corruption team ensured that their icon, Anna Hazare, got maximum screen space.So be it on Social Media or Main Stream Media or road agitation etc. The portrayal of him as another Gandhi made him a household topic and a huge wave of sympathy was garnered to the Jan Lokpal Movement. It was to such extent that in 2011 itself people were sure that there will be a government change in 2014. The current rulers, who allegedly were sponsors of the 2011 movement, were totally aware of this fact. And this is the reason why they did not allow farmers to get the screen space as much they deserved. The media already being manipulated was defending the government. Now celebrities were asked to join the bandwagon to sing governments chorus. And some experts too were called upon including international agencies who were asked to give comments in support of the new laws. Even the Supreme Courts intervention did not prove to be effective for farmers as the committee they decided to appoint, who will do a study and submit a report to the government on the bills contained people who all had before supported the law. And if you are planning to use an argument that courts will not bow to government requests, then let's turn the clock back a bit and remember the press conference of Supreme Court judges.

As the new dawn of 2021 came and talks still ending in stalemate, the farmers this time decided to shift gear now. They planned a tractor rally in the capital on Republic Day. When I had heard about this news I was sceptical because managing such a huge rally with public is not at all an easy task. It has to be cordoned off to the last farmer who shall be participating in it to ensure there are no loop holes which will allow fringe elements with vested interests to barge in and create ruckus. Because giving publicity to any negative scenes was a cake walk for the establishment. So even if the box has one rotten apple among the hundred, they can surely shout about that one rotten and make it as the cover photo of that protest.

To be fair to the farmers, given the magnitude of protest they have already managed to hold, this thought surely must have crossed their minds as well. And with nothing concrete happening, it was essential for them to up the ante, so a risk was necessary. 

So after the announcement, as usual, the establishment started crying foul that there will be a law and order situation in the capital so this cannot allowed. Luckily, this time the Supreme Court supported the farmers rights to protest in a democratic manner. So the preparations were in full swing at both ends. Farmers preparing their tractors, march ready, for Republic Day while the government in deploying maximum security. But there were some other factions too who were prepping up for the D-Day. Their intention was to ensure a negative portrayal of the agitation reaches the world. So when the rally had reached the Red Fort, everyone must have seen the images of people barging inside the premises of the fort and raising a Sikh flag. A video was also shown in were we could see a tractor trying to jump the barricades which resulted in an accident resulting and death of the driver. In some areas, it was reported that the people shifted the course of planned route thus allowing situation to go out of hand. But for the government, their plan of action was ready. And first thing they did was to shut down internet at selective areas. The media ensured only those pictures and videos were broadcasted which will suit the establishments agenda. All the protestors were termed anything, but farmer. Even the social media accounts of around 500 users, those talking in support of the agitation were blocked by the government. 

One thing I still fail to understand, Red Fort, where the country's PM hoists the National Flag on every Independence Day is a maximum security place. So how did the protestors get entry in such a fortress? The police force which had kept the farmers on the borders of the capital for two months, suddenly became so loose that they allowed a small group of people to enter this citadel. Also, ever since the protest started few corporate groups have been the targets of being the beneficiary of these laws. So, coincidentally or what I am not sure, exactly those companies assets were vandalised. As a third person one needs to understand a thing, if farmers wanted to use violence as the means for their protest then why would they set up tents and stay on the road in freezing temperatures for two months? Violence was an option on the day when they were halted on the borders. But they opted for bearing the cold to make sure they are heard. So whatever happened on Republic Day was surely a planned anarchy and the original protestors were not responsible for it. Few pictures did surface in the social media showing a person in the guise of farmer but was found earlier clicked with political leaders of the current establishment including the PM. But of course, this will never be talked about. Neither about the scenes of people welcoming the famers rally in the capital or the farmers saving the police from violence undertaken by the fringe elements. Nor the farmers carrying a 5KM long tricolour. Because this will not suit the governments narrative. 

As soon as the sun set on Republic Day, the police were back in action. Many arrests happened. They had also started building concrete road blocks to keep the agitators outside the city limit. Even nails were set up on the road for not allowing any vehicle to cross the border. In every radio episode, PM used the typical political speech adjectives to talk about the farmers or mentioned that I am just one phone call away. But not once have the PM attended the talks or listened patiently to what their demands are. One of the minister or leader from the ruling establishment had even accepted the fact that it was a mistake to not have consultation with all stakeholder before bringing the laws. So what is stopping now? Giving an option to not implement the laws for one and a half year isn't an answer. 

With so much already happening in the country like the iron being hot and ready from the fire. Bang! A hammer came down on it all of a sudden out of nowhere. A singer in the United States of America tweets about the farmers agitation and all hell breaks loose. Before going ahead, I would like to mention that how all of a sudden the singer got interest in our countries problem is a question to me. Is it genuine or was it done through vested interests? But after the one tweet that went viral, more global celebrities started talking about the agitation. 

Now a celebrity mentioning something on their social media account did not require an answer from the Central Government of India. Such action itself suggested that the government of the worlds largest democracy can be brought to table not by their own citizens who are fighting for their rights on road for two months, but by some celebrity with typing of few words on their social media handle. The damage control process was so extensive that the first replies came directly from the Ministry of External Affairs. Then, in few hours people started seeing tweets of Indian Celebrities using a same hashtag as designated by the government and talking about sovereignty. Suddenly some reports surfaced that police complaints were filed against an individual celebrity. Though later it was clarified that report has been filed against unknown individuals. 

Was this necessary? What message did will we rally down to the world? That we are defending our country or we can be brought  down on defensive mode even by a 140 words tweet? And what was the reason to involve cricketing legends or singers in this battle? Why malign their images? It was so much visible in the similar wordings of the tweets, the same hashtags and most importantly not many of those celebrities had shared their opinions on this subject before. Then why make them do it suddenly today? Why so much fear? What is it that you are trying to hide? 

The current ruling party's founding Chief in the 80s talked about farmers problems in the party inauguration speech where he was seen criticising the then government about suppressing the farmers voice. What is being done now? Or maybe, being selectively deaf and blind is the trend these days.

I am really thankful to the owners of Twitter. When Facebook owner went on buying spree of all competitors, Twitter did not budge. And this is the reason why Twitter allowed the 500 odd accounts that were blocked, to be reopened. To this, the government even sends notice to the company as to why they opened the accounts? This clearly states, that government wants only those voice in the public that talk in support of them. Dictatorship in the guise of democracy.

One argument you will surely hear is the protesting farmers mainly belong to the state of Haryana or Punjab and not from other states. As per news reports, Maharashtra farmers too are involved in it. But the basic reason is not about being One State or All States. The reason why Agriculture as a Subject falls in the State list of the Constitution is because each state has its own set of ways of doing farming, own markets and one rule cannot be applied to all states. By passing the three bills, the Centre has overriden the state laws. So it is essential for the all stakeholders to sit together and discuss the provisions of the law.

The protest has already completed two months, with end not visible in the near future. A good news I heard today was that the Delhi state government has called back DTC buses provided to Delhi police as the same were used against the farmers. In case you aren't aware, Delhi police doesn't come under the Delhi state government.

Even the lawyer and relative of V.P. of the USA has sent out a strong message saying not preach us where we should comment and where we should not.

So let us wait and see how this agitation further unfolds. I am hoping everyone is able to come to a common minimum programme soon, so at least the farmers will be able to go home. 

-SR.

PS: May The Force Be With All The Protesting Farmers !!!