Protesting against a cold-hearted govt

The protesting farmers moving into Delhi and the issues they have raised deserve better treatment and a more sympathetic consideration from the government. They are not barbarians knocking at the gates of the national capital but people with genuine doubts and concerns over recent farm laws and their consequences on their lives. The government has tried to belittle the protesters in many ways. It has said that they are misguided on the meaning and import of the farm laws; it has said the protests are not genuine but orchestrated by Opposition parties; it has claimed that only farmers from Punjab and Haryana are taking part in the protests. There were even insinuations from some quarters that Khalistani separatists are involved in it. Above all, the farmers were stopped, water-cannoned, lathi-charged and otherwise ill-treated on their way to Delhi.

Even when tens of thousands of farmers have protested and come to Delhi, the government remains unmoved. Farmers from other parts of the country have supported and expressed their solidarity with the protesters. It is wrong to put a condition, as Union Home Minister Amit Shah did, that they should assemble at a particular place for the government to talk to them. The government has, in fact, undermined any talks, even before they are held, by sticking to its position on the laws and their implementation. The Prime Minister continues to reiterate that the reforms are meant to benefit farmers and seems unable to see the farmers’ point of view. Government representatives and ruling party members have reiterated that there will be no reconsideration of the laws. What is there to talk about then? The government’s position can only make the farmers more stubborn.

Farmers have serious apprehensions about some provisions of the new laws relating to the minimum support price (MSP) and continued government procurement of farm produce. They worry that they will be at the mercy of big corporates and a free market system if the APMCs are undermined. But the government is not ready to go beyond assurances on these issues. It did not talk to the farmers about the proposals before they were announced in May, when an ordinance was promulgated, nor later before the bills were passed in Parliament. The discussions in Parliament were inadequate. That is also the case with many other measures that the government has pushed through in Parliament. Democracy calls for consultations on all issues inside Parliament and outside, and the attitude that the government knows what is best for the people does not suit it.