On the 19th of November, at 9 AM, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation announcing that the three farm laws, passed for the benefit of small farmers, stood repealed. The decision came as a shock to those in the corridors of power as nobody had expected the announcement to come this soon, or, come at all. The protests against the farm laws have been ongoing for the past 1 year, often leading to violence, the most significant being the violence that erupted on the 26th of January 2021.
For many, the decision showed that the Modi government had capitulated to violent forces who believed in enforcing their will through naked street power. For many months, the protests against farm laws and the insidious propaganda around it had carried on unabated.
On January 26, thousands of alleged farmers protesting against the recently enacted agriculture laws barged into Delhi for their tractor rally. They damaged not only public property and raised two flags with the Sikh symbols on the Red Fort but also injured several dozen police personnel. In the response to an RTI, it was revealed at 299 police personnel were injured during the violence and the financial damage ran in crores. The government’s response at that time, was muted, to say the least. While certain farmer leaders were arrested for the violence, the police hardly used force to crush the violence and masterminds like Rakesh Tikait and Yogendra Yadav were not arrested.
The protests also saw brutal violence heaped against individuals. According to reports, over a dozen women have been missing from these protest sites. We saw the murder of Lakhbir Singh, the rape of a Bengal woman, the murder of Mukesh where he was burnt to death and several other such incidents.
After the farm laws were repealed by PM Modi, Rakesh Tikait issued a statement saying that the agitation will not be withdrawn immediately.
Understandably, the supporters of the PM believe that the government bowed to street power displayed by violent elements in these protests, including the Khalistani separatists who were an intrinsic part of these protests. Laws are formulated in the Parliament after due deliberation and the laws must also be repealed in the Parliament if they are found to be redundant. To repeal laws in a public address and attributing the repeal to protests only emboldens violent elements templatizing street veto.
Any law that would be passed henceforth, would be open to this template. Those who wish to create unrest in the country for petty politics would spread misinformation about the law, incite violent elements and arm-twist the government in taking the law back, thereby making the head of the state look weak.
The farm law repeal has so far received mixed reactions from those in the corridors of power. While the move came as a surprise even to those who walk these corridors, the decision seems bitter-sweet.
The chatter in the corridors of power: What leaders told OpIndia about farm laws repeal
OpIndia tried to get in touch with several leaders and policymakers in the power corridors to understand why this step was taken by the government. Most leaders were tight-lipped and refused to comment. “The Prime Minister has spoken and given his reasons. We should stick to that for now”, the leaders maintained.
Off the record, though, those in the know tried to explain the reasons behind this move, without divulging details. A leader, speaking to OpIndia off the record said that the Prime Minister had taken this decision keeping in mind the security of the nation.
“The situation when the bill was passed and the situation today is extremely different. If you notice, the PM also said that he passed the law for the benefit of the farmers, but is repealing it for the security of the nation”. He further said, “This is a step-down and nobody can argue that it is not. I also understand how the government looks. It looks like we bowed to anti-national forces and those creating violence. But the propaganda around these laws was too strong and threatened internal stability. The government chose to maintain peace in the country by pushing the laws through. This was a decision between two bad situations (pushing the laws through and risking Khalistani elements creating fissures and looking weak by repealing the laws) and the government chose to back down so the separatist movement was not revived using this law”.
Adding an interesting angle to the debate, the leader said, “You have China threatening to light a fire at the border, you have the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and Jihadi elements getting stronger in Pakistan. There is a geopolitical context that we cannot ignore. It is better to look weak than to have a 2.5 front war that would threaten stability”. Adding to his comments, another leader said, “PM Modi would continue the journey of reform. He has chosen to compromise party interest and the optics of the government for the benefit of the nation. This was a necessary decision, not a desired one”.
Voices from Punjab: What local BJP workers and leaders said about the farm laws repeal
While the central government and the power centre close to them saw this as a necessary step to maintain the internal peace in the country, the local leadership of Punjab had a mixed reaction.
On March 27, anti-farm law protestors in Punjab attacked BJP MLA from Abohar, Arun Narang. They thrashed him and tore off his clothes. The visuals of the incident that took place in Malout town, district Muktsar, Punjab, had gone viral on social media platforms. Police and BJP workers present at the scene somehow managed to save him.
Speaking to OpIndia, Arun Narang supported the decision to repeal farm laws. He said that it had created a fissure in the society between Sikhs and Hindus and the laws being repealed would fix that divide. The decision would benefit Punjab and the nation and he welcomes the decision. He said that as the PM said, a committee would be formed to formulate further laws and we should trust the PM. On being asked if he believes that this move is one that would strengthen violent elements, he said that the BJP government is not arrogant to not listen to the voice of the people. In a democracy, the people are supreme and they had to be flexible to the demands of the people. He said it would also prove to be a slap on the face of such Congress leaders who are fomenting trouble as it proves that the Modi government is a government for the people and one that listens to the voice of the common man.
While Arun Narang welcomed the move, Sukhpal Singh Sran, State Secretary, BJP expressed his intense displeasure at the laws being repealed. He said that if they had to repeal these laws they should not have passed them in the first place. “The farm laws were passed in a hurry and have been repealed in a hurry as well”, he said.
“In a strong democracy led by a strong Prime Minister, this is not the way things should be done. They should not capitulate to a party that has not given anything to the country in the last 70 years. If they wanted to repeal, they should have done it much earlier. This is an injustice to BJP workers who have handled the ire of these elements”, he said.
On being asked if the Modi government would bring back the farm laws later, he said that he was not very hopeful. “I don’t think any step for the benefit of the farmers will be taken anymore. If PM Modi could not do it, who will? Nobody else has the intent that he does. The people will not find a more honest PM than him. If he could not do it, nobody will be able to do it”.
He told OpIndia that he wants his statement to be published in full because he is not bothered about the party but the country. “Captain Amarinder has won and state BJP has lost today”, he said. “I am more bothered about BJP workers than the party. Today, in Punjab the situation is such that even daughters of BJP leaders are being ostracised. Nobody wants to marry our daughters. They should have spoken to the workers first. They should have spoken to the workers before making the laws or repealing the laws. If the party worker is with them, they had nothing to worry about. But today, the party leaders are not with the party workers at all”, he added.
Intelligence agencies: The revival of Khalistan and radicalisation of youth
While the state leaders in Punjab had mixed reactions to the farm laws being repealed, those in the intelligence circuit reiterated that while this was not the best decision that could have been made, it was a necessary decision given the inputs about Khalistani elements trying to foment trouble.
Speaking to OpIndia, an officer from the intelligence agencies said that there were specific inputs about the protests being used by Khalistanis and the ISI to create fissures in the country and push India into unrest internally. The inputs categorically stated that the situation was going “out of hand” and the youth in Punjab was being radicalised using the misinformation and propaganda around these laws.
“You have to realise that the father of Bhindranwale was a farmer and local Sikh leader called Joginder Singh Brar. The Khalistani movement and Bhindranwale himself rose to fame after a farmer protest. These elements were being used to radicalise the youth in Punjab. On top of that, elements like Pannu of SFJ and the ISI was using these protests to revive the violent Khalistani movement. It was a difficult decision to repeal the laws but one that had to be taken”, the intelligence officer said.
Another officer said, “We already have local Jihadi sleeper cells and ISI operatives to deal with. We did not need a radicalised Sikh community and the Khalistanis destabilising India”.
Sikh activist speaks
Ramnik Singh Mann, a prominent Sikh activist said that the farmer leaders may feel a sense of victory but it is a loss for the farmers of the nation. These reforms for the farmers came after decades. “We have seen an Industrial revolution in this country after 1991 all thanks to PV Narasimha Rao, and we are 30 years late in farm reforms. We had a good opportunity to bring them in right now. My point is, what have we as farmers gained out of this? The entire agitation, the entire drama that has been going on at the borders of Delhi, what has the farmers gained?”.
Mann said that he had mixed feelings about the farm laws being repealed. While on one hand, he feels that the farmers have lost out, he feels that a lot of anti-national forces had infiltrated the protests which was apparently a farmers agitation. That needed to be curtailed. Captain Amrinder Singh had brought out this issue and had met the PM, the HM and the NSA. The NSA then had gone back and met the HM. The area of responsibility of the BSF had been increased from 15 to 50 km. This was all pointing to a direction where destabilising the nation was the main agenda of the people who had infiltrated these farmer agitations. A lot of people like Pannu and Dhaliwal had started talking about Khalistan and the Balkanisation of India. They were provoking people against not just PM Modi but also India itself. Rakesh Tikait had said that ‘Bill wapisi nahi to ghar wapisi nahi’. Now that the laws have been repealed, they should go back home”.
Adding to that, Mann said that while he thinks that the protestors should now go back, he also feels that Tikait will perhaps find another reason to continue the agitation. “7th December is the date when Supreme Court would hear the occupation of the borders by these farmers. And it is around the same time that the model code of conduct would also be in force in Punjab. It would not be interesting to see how the Supreme Court reacts. It was the SC that had sided with farmer unions and gone to the extent of permitting them to occupy the borders and their siege on Delhi. Now let’s see how the SC reacts. But if the farmers now continue their agitation, they would lose whatever credibility they have left”.
On being asked if he thought this step was capitulating to street power, Mann said that he had no doubt in his mind that this was a step back. “PM Modi also mentioned in his address what all he has done for the farming sector in his tenure and he also spoke categorically about a committee being formed with scientists, farmers etc to formulate a new set of laws. He has apologised to the country that he was not able to convince a certain section of farmers about the merits of these laws. He did not say that there was anything wrong with the farm laws per se. But I think the reform would continue which are much required”.
By and large, there is a sense of despondency at the laws being repealed but across the board, the reaction is rather mixed. While people seem to understand the reasons as to why these laws were repealed, there is also an acknowledgement that this was not the best decision that could have been taken, however, it was a necessary decision. There is also an acknowledgement of the fact that this could be viewed as a move capitulating to violent forces who wanted to arm-twist the government, however, it was a move to ensure the internal stability of the nation in the face of Khalistan and ISI terrorists trying to revive the Khalistani movement using these farmer protests and the propaganda around farm laws.
PM Modi repeals farm laws: What were they
One of the biggest factors plaguing the growth of the agriculture sector in the country is the inability of the farmer to find a market and to get a fair price for his produce. To address the issue, the erstwhile governments of different states enacted the Agricultural Produce Market Regulation Acts (APMC Acts), which authorised them to set up and regulate marketing practices in wholesale markets.
The objective of these markets was to ensure that farmers get a fair price for their produce. However, with each passing year, the APMCs turned out to be inefficient with increasing cartelisation of middlemen, ban on private players to enter the trade, increasing corruption etc.
The Modi government had introduced three bills to promote much easier trade for the farm produce and to provide a competitive market for the producers outside the existing APMC system. The three laws were:
- The Farming Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020: This law aims at creating additional trading opportunities outside the APMC market yards to help farmers get remunerative prices due to additional competition
- The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020: This law relates a framework for contract farming through an agreement between a farmer and a buyer prior to the production or rearing of any farm produce.
- The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020: This law aims to regulate the supply of certain food items only under extraordinary circumstances.
It is pertinent to mention that the farm laws were set of three laws that allowed farmers to sell their products outside APMC act (most states make it compulsory for the farmers to sell at APMC mandis). It also allowed farmers to directly have a contract with corporate houses.
The farm laws did not do away with APMC, and if someone was not willing to trust markets outside the current system, they were free to stick to the ongoing system. It did not do away with MSPs either.
(Anurag, journalist with OpIndia, contributed to this report by speaking to local Punjab leaders)
