HARVEST OF DESPAIR & POLITICAL FAMINE

YOU reap what you sow, goes the adage.

- PRABHU CHAWLA

In the pastoral expanse of India, where Gandhi's Indians live, farmers are reaping sorrow. Agitation in the mind is spilling over on the street. For the past few years, peasants and their leaders have been defiantly sleeping on the road, braving heavy rain and scorching heat.

They may not be vote banks now, but they do influence the news cycle.

Last week, the narrative was soured by BJP's dialogue desperado Kangana Ranaut. She called for the implementation of the three controversial farm laws that the Modi government repealed after the 2021 protests. In search of an identity, she made the provocative demand: "I know this statement could be controversial, but the three farm laws should be brought back. The farmers should themselves demand it." Her observations were seen as an official attempt to revive the aborted acts.

Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi lambasted the government by posting: "BJP keeps testing ideas. They tell someone to present an idea to the public and then observe the reaction. This is exactly what happened when one of their MPs talked about reviving the farmer laws, which were black laws. Modiji, please clarify whether you are against this or if you are up to mischief again." Passed by both Houses of parliament in 2020, these laws were meant to deregulate agricultural markets so that farmers get the freedom to sell their produce to non-official agencies, enter into contracts with bulk buyers and remove stockpiling limits all of which would enhance the farmer's income. But agriculturists didn't accept the argument.

Instead, they charged the government with opening up the sector to corporate exploitation. They led to a series of violent protests in which more than 500 people died. The fight has been on for three years against heavy odds.