Do farmers have Modi cornered?

By Ajay Jha

No matter what the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would like one to believe, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to announce the withdrawal of the three contentious farm laws that the government had steamrolled through its brute majority in Parliament last year was no act of benevolence.

Modi exhibits no such traits. Once he has taken a decision, seldom is there a rethink. This time, he simply buckled under tremendous pressure from the BJP rank and file to do something before it impacts the party’s prospects in elections. He cared little while farmers took to the streets and were protesting for nearly 14 months despite all threats, allegations, pressures and demands. However, the results of six seats in the by-elections in Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan – one under BJP rule and the latter a fertile land in a Congress-ruled state, was an eye-opener for the BJP, that a government ignores people’s will at its own peril.

The Congress rhetoric-irrespective of whether it was true or not - on the narrative that the Modi government had been working for the benefit of its close corporate friends and the farm laws were also meant to enable them to enter corporate farming that would ultimately result in corporate houses forcing farmers to work in their own land as labour, had started having some impact.

The growing resentment against the government was there for all to see. It had to face voters’ ire resulting in BJP surrendering two seats in Himachal Pradesh and one seat in Rajasthan to the Congress party. It came as a wake-up call and the response was instant. First, the government announced a reduction in excise duties on petrol and diesel to give some relief to the people, followed by Friday’s decision to repeal the farm laws.

Modi, in his address to the nation, rued that the government had failed to communicate to the poor and marginal farmers, who constitute 80 per cent of Indian farmers, that the farm laws were meant to benefit them. That being the case, he has none but himself to blame for snapping all channels of communications with the masses.

Ever since becoming the prime minister in 2014, Modi buried an old tradition of the PM’s annual press conference. Admittedly, it was stage-managed in the past as only tutored journalists would get the opportunity to ask questions for which the PM would be well prepared with answers.

Media is a preferred channel between the rulers and the ruled and its role is recognised as the fourth pillar of democracy. Critical voices of media were muzzled and instead, Modi started his monthly monologue as Maan Ki Baat. Arrogance had long replaced the friendliness of BJP spokespersons, who would often finish their press conferences without taking questions. Yes, there was a communication gap. Yes, the government failed to convey its messages to the masses that abnormal hikes in petroleum prices were for their good, farm laws were meant to uplift poor farmers and make India the food bowl of the world. But BJP’s arrogance or should that be, overconfidence was responsible for it.

On the other hand, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is seen interacting with the media at least once every month. There is a saying that a lie told a hundred times starts appearing as the truth. Rahul Gandhi’s narratives of Modi being friends with industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani had started working, which reflected in the bye-elections. Some opinion poll results that predicted BJP’s complete wipe-out in Punjab and that the party will only just cross the majority mark in Uttar Pradesh, the two states most affected by the farmers’ agitation along with Haryana, with loss of about 100 seats, set the alarm bells ringing. The decision thus to repeal the farm laws was not a humanitarian gesture but driven by election consideration as five states are headed to assembly polls in the first quarter of 2022.

The farm laws and the widespread resentment against it had come as a godsend for the Congress party. It used all its might to provoke the farmers against the BJP and its government at the centre. Modi’s decision to repeal them and end the agitation, it appeared, would leave the Congress party without a stick to beat the Modi government with. That may be so, but while the Congress would have liked the agitation to continue at least till the next round of assembly elections, if not till the 2024 parliamentary polls, the farmers’ story is far from over.

While the farmers, wary of the PM going back on his announcement, announced that they would not end their agitation until the laws passed by parliament are formally killed in parliament, the Congress party has used its well-established channels to now add another demand. It has started echoing within the last 24 hours, with the farmers adding th