It's Bharat, Not BJP

Farm protest violence: Country cannot be crippled by a crisis kisan unions precipitated

- R Jagannathan

Tragic deaths of some farmers and BJP workers in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh suggest that the farmer agitation is doing more harm than good. It cannot lead to better outcomes even if the government gives in to all their demands.

The claim is that a convoy belonging to a BJP minister’s son ploughed into a group of agitating farmers, and angry farmers then lynched some BJP workers in retaliation. But we need to take these claims with a pinch of salt, for it is highly improbable that any convoy will randomly run over farmers unless the driver(s) panicked for some reason. The lynching of BJP workers cannot be condoned when we are so free in condemning other kinds of lynchmobs.

While it is fair to criticise BJP for not taking farmers’ concerns seriously before the agitation snowballed, since negotiations started late last year the government has bent over backwards to accommodate most of their concerns without compromising the three farm reform laws it has legislated.

When the Supreme Court has anyway stayed the implementation of the laws and asked an expert panel to suggest ways forward, it is clearly the kisan unions who must be held accountable for their intransigence. They want nothing short of public humiliation of the Narendra Modi government, but this indirectly means humiliation of our democracy, for these laws were passed by both Houses of Parliament with clear majorities.