By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2020-12-24 10:27:33
What did the Congress expect? That it will go in a procession with thousands of people including top leaders and all of them will be allowed to proceed to the Rashtrapati Bhawan to hand over a memorandum to the President regarding the farmers' agitation? Did it ever allow a similar procession to proceed to the hallowed premises when it was in power?
Obviously, the government stopped the procession. Obviously, it allowed a small delegation, as per custom, to proceed to Rashtrpati Bhawan and do what they set out to. Obviously it arrested a few Congress leaders, removed them from the scene and released them later. That is how the script unfolds and that is how it has been unfolding for all such protests and processions. The script was written by the Congress when it ruled the country for over six decades. The present government is only following the tradition.
Hence it sounded hilarious when commenting on the day's development, Rahul Gandhi said that there is no democracy in India. The very fact that the farmer's are agitating peacefully at Delhi's border proves that democracy is thriving in the country. The very fact that a delegation of the Congress went and met the President proves democracy is thriving in the country. The very fact that a party that was in favour of the farm reforms when it was in power and is now against them proves that democracy is thriving in the country.
Yes, the BJP is guilty of treating the farm agitation as anti-national. Yes it is guilty of tarnishing the image of the farmers by calling them names. But as per democratic traditions, it is engaging them in talks. It is listening to them. It is trying to solve the matter by paying attention to their grievances. In fact, it is the unions that are acting undemocratically by insisting that the laws be repealed. A miniscule percentage of India's farmers are holding the nation to ransom and parties like the Congress that were in favour of the reforms earlier are backing them just to create problems for the government. This is not democracy, it is cheap politics.
image courtesy: tweeted by ANI