Farm Stir: Stirring A Beehive
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-11-23 02:13:56
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
Whoever stirs a beehive runs the risk of getting stung. But there are ways which honey collectors use to ensure that no harm comes to them. The NDA government stirred a beehive in enacting the new farm laws but failed to take precautionary measures. It got stung and royally at that.
The angry farmers, it seems, are in no mood to take the Prime Minister's apology on face value. They have upped the ante by not limiting their ongoing stir to the new farm laws and have said that it will continue till all other pending demands, including widening the scope of MSP and giving it a legal status, are met. They have decided to make it an issue in the UP polls next year.
Hence, for the government the first sting was to climb down from its high pedestal and agreeing to repeal the laws. But the second, and more painful, sting is that the first sting was borne practically for nothing as the expected withdrawal of the stir is not going to happen.
If only the government had gone for wider consultation before enacting the laws. If only the government had brought the stakeholders on board before enacting the laws. If only the government had not first used the ordinance route to impose them. If only the government had referred them to a select parliamentary committee. If only the government had not used its brute majority in parliament to rush them through. If only the narrative had not plunged so pathetically as to make demons out of farmers. If only Lakhimpur Kheri had not happened. If only........
After having used all undemocratic means to achieve its end, the government has high hopes if it thinks that the farmers will trust it fully. Trust has to be won and the government (and the BJP) has vitiated the atmosphere so badly that it will take a lot of time to do so.
In trying to score a victory, the NDA government has made sure that the nation has lost. For, farms reforms are urgently needed to make the agriculture sector modern and competitive and to increase the earnings of the farmers, 80% of whom barely manage to eke out a living for their efforts. But given the way things played out in the last one year, it is unlikely that the next attempt to reform the sector will happen in a hurry. The status quo, which helps only an entrenched class of people, will continue to rule and the farmers will continue to suffer. As for India, who cares for it anyway, despite loud chest thumping over nationalism?
