26 JANUARY, FAILURE / SABOTAGE, AND LATER

Something terrible happened in Delhi on the Republic Day 2021. The farmers’ protests, which had been completely peaceful for over two months until then, got blemished by a group of hooligans who took over the Red Fort for some time, flew a Sikh religious flag under the tricolour there, and randomly clashed with police. Here is an attempt to sum up the developments in brief.

1. In 2020, the Indian government brought in three inter-connected farm laws.
2. There has been a widespread view that agriculture being a “state subject” in the Constitution of India, the centre had no business to enact these laws. Pritam Singh writes in the Wire (20 January 2021): “Since the inauguration of the Indian constitution on January 26, 1950, these three [laws] constitute the most concerted entry of the Centre into the sphere of agriculture, which was designated a state subject” in the Constitution.
3. The laws were controversial since beginning for other reasons too. Agricultural experts like P Sainath and Yogendra Yadav believe these laws will give big industrialists a free hand in agriculture, where they were barred until now. On the other hand, a few reputed economists like Dr Ashok Gulati and most TV experts (?) believe the laws will improve the farmers’ conditions and farm productivity immensely. I will not go into the merits of their arguments here, but what is beyond argument is that the laws, if implemented, will change for ever the way farmers sell their products and the farm economy in general.
4. Let me just add that while the government believes it’s a huge gift to farmers, the famers don't see the laws as a gift. On the contrary, almost all the farmers’ bodies have begun an agitation demanding repeal of the laws. It’s by far the biggest protest happening on the planet now.
5. Let’s also note that the government brought in these bills first through ordinances and then through minimal discussion in Lok Sabha and got it passed by “voice vote” in Rajya Sabha. “Voice vote” means actual votes of members will not be recorded. Members supporting will shout “Aye” and those who oppose will shout “Nay”! The Speaker of the house, whose hearing shouldn’t be questioned, will decide which side had more people. Voice vote, naturally, is taken on minor issues. Also, the ruling party and their supports do not have a majority in Rajya Sabha. So, passing such a game-changing law which is going to impact every Indian by voice vote is a mockery of parliamentary practices.
6. Lakhs of farmers have been sitting peacefully in protest against the farm laws for over two months now and have blocked major roads leading into Delhi from Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of an umbrella organisation: Sanyukt Kisaan Morcha or the SKM. Their protests were completely peaceful until 26 January when they brought in 96,000 tractors to the capital.
7. While the tractor marches were largely peaceful, in some areas, groups of farmers broke away from predetermined routes and attacked policemen brutally, injuring over 300 of them. The mob also took over the Red Fort for a brief while and raised some Sikh religious flags under the tricolour on the ramparts of the fort.
8. True to their wont, the mainstream media completely ignored peaceful marches on 26 January and focussed solely on the trouble makers. They also held the farmers’ leaders squarely responsible for the mayhem and what they called insult to the national flag. They ignored the fact that even the mob didn’t touch the national flag.
9. The SKM leadership condemned the trouble makers unequivocally, but also took moral responsibility for the mayhem. In my lifetime, this is the first time I have seen leaders of an agitation taking responsibility for hooligans who (mis)used protest platform.
10. Also, the SKM leadership said there was a gang of people led by one Deep Sidhu who created all the trouble at Red Fort. Interestingly, these thugs had tried to join the protest before, but they were shooed away by the SKM. Deep Sidhu and his gang had been known thugs. (Deep Sidhu is also close to the BJP and has his picture with the PM right at the PM's residence.) The Deep Sidhus had stayed put despite being cold-shouldered by SKM. Where? If you had seen the agitation site at the border from a helicopter, you would have seen this: SKM agitators camping outside the Delhi border – police barricade at the border – and the Deep Sidhu gang on the other side of the border, clearly, aided and allowed by the police within the Delhi border.
11. On 26 January, they were the first people to get off the block. They reached the Red Fort unobstructed by the police. Why were they not stopped by the Delhi Police? Your guess is as good as mine. 

The above, Dear Friends, is what I believe is a STATEMENT OF BARE FACTS. There have been 3 different kinds of reactions to these facts.

 

Firstly, the sarkar, the sarkari party, and the media that are heavily tilted towards them, from Times Now to Aaj Tak, are baying for the blood of the farm leaders. The now-famous troll army of the ruling party has threatened the most articulate farm leader, Yogendra Yadav and his family in the dirtiest possible language. (After all, this is New India, where some people who shout "Bharat Mata ki jay" also use the filthiest words against women who they consider enemies!)

 

Among those who are not enamoured to the government, some like my friend Satyajit Mitra writes: “Once you fumble, the fascist adversaries will pounce on you. The leadership of farmers movement showed their uneasiness about R-day incidents, RSS cadre and police all have come to demolish the weakened movement. Sad events are unfolding.”

 

On the other hand, a respected Bengali author and activist, Jaya Mitra has shared this picture with the following caption: “In the wind that has been blowing the rumours that the agitation is crumbling, this picture of a massive assembly on 27 January 2021 has been sent to me by one of the editors of the Trolley Times, Nav Kiran Nat” (Translation from Bangla mine.)

 

My information from a friend on the field and an NDTV report goes to the second view. My friend says, last night, the UP government, well-known for its pro-democracy credentials, switched off electricity at and removed water tankers from the Gazipur border. They even removed the toilets from the protest sites. (So much for Swatch Bharat!)

 

But despite all this, the crowd at Gazipur border has been growing. More farmers have been joining the protest site and the gathering was the biggest ever last night. He said, Rakesh Tikait, who told NDTV that he is "ready to face bullets" if needed, has the credentials and farmers love him.

 

People also remained awake last night as they expected a police crackdown.

 

So, is the farmers’ protest crumbling?

 

The answer my friend …

 

29 January 2021