Commentary
By Kaushal Kishore*
The benefit of MSP is confined to merely six percent of the total farmers of the country
Rounds of dialogues between the Government of India and farmers’ unions failed to bring any solution. Then violent elements hijacked the tractor rally on the Republic Day. It led to turn the peaceful protest into the violent display of traitors and failure of the promises of its leaders. As a consequence division among Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (United Farmers Front) is unavoidable that may pave the way for return of protesting farmers and their supporters. The achievement during the tenth round of dialogue on the birth anniversary of Guru Govind Singh, when the government proposed to suspend the three farming laws for an year and half, now lost its value (the government still sticks to it). However it was supported by fifteen different groups of the front, it’s a question mark on the intentions of seventeen organisations that was against it. This violence has revealed intention behind the rejection of that attempt to evolve democratic process before the promulgation of the impugned laws.
Also read: Why should Rajasthan suspend PM’s move to provide funds directly to the panchayats ?
The stay order of the Supreme Court prevails in absence of the fresh order. One of the four-members of its committee, Bhupinder Singh Mann, has resigned before the function started. One of the retired justices has also rejected its offer to preside the committee. After all, rest of the members of the committee have started their work. The Supreme Court is trying hard to find a legal solution to the political problem only to put its reputation at stake.
The peaceful mass movement suddenly turned violent. This is a matter of investigation. Demonstration of power by the protesting groups has emerged as a new normal due to the negligence of the governments towards Satyagraha. This movement is not an exception to it. Most of the state agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA), were active in order to prevent the anti social elements to infiltrate. But they still failed to stop the violence on Republic Day in the national capital. In the Supreme Court, the government has referred to the involvement of anti national Khalistani hardliners in the United Farmers’ Front. The good faith finally rendered the platform for anti-national elements. The Khalsa Panth and Khalistan refer to purity as paramount, but that is meaningless in absence of purity of aim and means. The purity of both were principal concerns in the Gandhian endeavours.
In the parliamentary democracy the opposition got opportunity to say, and the government has its way. The three laws have been passed during the lockdown without giving opportunity to the opposition bench. Moreover the position of its supporters are also not clear. Neither the discussion in the media nor political tricks can fill this void. The violence is hovering over the several weeks of peaceful protest, and the nation needs to fix it.
As far as contract farming and minimum support price (MSP) are concerned, positions of both are in the public domain. The benefit of MSP is confined to merely six percent of the total farmers of the country. As such the produce of rice and wheat by the farmers in Bihar are sold in the APMC (mandis) of other states. The contract farming is yet another reality that prevails before the introduction of the new law. Despite the support of the Congress and the Left, the farmers have not handed over the protest platform to political parties and its leaders. They are aware of the fact that the same parties tried hard to introduce such laws while being in power.
According to the Indian Constitution, both agriculture and markets are the subjects of the state list. The central goverment can only persuade the states to make laws in these subjects. That is why the Left ruled Kerala assembly has passed a resolution against it. Similar efforts cannot be ruled out in other states. Today farmers across the country are demanding for the legal guarantee to pay the minimum support price. But the government is not ready.
Socialist leader Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia once referred to the public protest on the roads and its connection with the stray Parliament. After going through this, one can have an idea that the Indian cultures have fallen victim to modern civilization. As a consequence while the farmers and peasants are holding sacred books, the ruling class is taking hold of their land. Today all politics of the political class and ruling class are moving around it. Sadly the common people willingly invited them to do so. As long as this practice is going on, the welfare of peasantry will continue to be viciously attacked.
Now no one talks on how many years the grains do not rot in the houses of the farmers. The discussion rests on the rotting grain in the warehouse of Food Corporation of India. Bill Gates came into limelight in the US for writing software scripts at a young age, and now there are several other reasons as well. One of the reasons are his ownership of 242,000 hectares of farming land across the US that can make him one of biggest farming lords across the globe. It’s not impossible for the wealthy merchant to do so since the land turned into the sellable commodity. The land is treated as the mother earth in the culture better referred to as agriculture, in order to protect it, the farmers and peasants need to maintain the purity of means and aims while moving forward.
*The writer is a social activist and author of The Holy Ganga (Rupa, 2008), Managing Editor of Panchayat Sandesh, and his column Across The Lines appears in the vernacular publications.
