Farmers Are Not Enemies Of The Nation
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
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By Linus Garg
First publised on 2021-08-31 08:47:56
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
What happened at Karnal during the protest by farmers was avoidable. It does not behove a government to treat farmers as enemies of the state and come down heavily and violently on them for exercising their right of peaceful protest against a government policy that they feel is inimical to their interests (the protest in Karnal was against a BJP meeting). As it is, the farm bills were first imposed as ordinances without taking the farmers into confidence and then rushed through parliament without allowing the people's representatives to debate their finer points. The extended round of talks that followed after the farmers decided to hold protests did not achieve anything as both parties were adamant at not conceding much ground.
The onus is on the government to bring the farmers to its side. The mistrust has grown ever since the bills were passed because of the fact that they were rushed in without wide consultations. The farm bodies are now bent on proving their might by not agreeing to anything less than a complete repealing of the bills and a legal guarantee that the MSP system will continue and even expanded for more agricultural products. Although the government has repeatedly said that it has no plans to discontinue the MSP system of procurement and just wants to eliminate middlemen and provide other avenues of selling their products to the farmers, it is clear that the farmers have been brainwashed into thinking that the bills will leave them at the mercy of large corporations.
It is sad that the farm bodies are not willing to discuss the bills clause by clause, as offered by the government. The insistence on repealing the bills smacks of blackmail. Not all clauses in the bills are contentious. If a clause by clause discussion is held, one is sure that some way out will emerge. But for that to happen, the government will have to build trust. The events in Karnal showed that the government is not interested. Instead of bringing about a change of heart among the farmers, incidents like Karnal will widen the gap and the government will be left with no other option but to repeal the laws. That would mean a huge setback for reforms in the agriculture sector.
