So Called 'Farmers Protest' : Too much of Democracy, now Modi Govt must act tough

by Brig Arun Bajpai

On 12 Jan 2021 Supreme Court (SC) of India gave three decisions on the ongoing farmer protest which is going on from last November. These are first. That till SC decides these three farm laws which these so called farmers want rescinded will not be implemented. Second, before these laws were passed by Parliament the old system of MSP will continue. Third. There will be a committee constituted which has the names of Bupinder Singh Mann, two Agri experts Pramod Joshi and Ashok Gulati and Anil Ghanavat as decided by SC. There is just no doubt that these decisions by SC are special.

Normally the job of SC is to se whether the law framed by the two houses of Parliament are constitutionally correct. If they are not supported by the Constitution then SC rescinds it. But the question is that what are the fundamentals of the Constitution in India? that has not been explained in full details till date, so this must be done first in full details with no ambiguity. As a result, at times judiciary is encroaching in the turf of executive. May be SC was forced to take recourse to this measure because it was confronted with three type of PILs, firstly those who were questioning these three farm laws passed by parliament, secondly those who were supporting these three farm laws, and thirdly those from people of Delhi who find this blockade by farmers as infringing their fundamental rights. All said and done basically SC gave this decision because it wanted this log jam to finish in a positive note and these farmers who were bereaving this cold of Delhi to go home.

However, the farmer Neta’s, basically the opposition political parties and their Neta’s who are inciting these farmers just to let down Indian PM Modi with Congress party in lead, have rejected this four-member Committee formed by SC with a statement that all these four members are favouring these three farmer laws. This is stupid because it amounts to questioning the integrity of SC. It is also very evident now that this so called protest is no more a farmer protest, it has been highjacked by the banned organisation Sikh For Justice. It is they who are providing moolah for all these five-star comforts, Gym, snow tents, Organised Langar etc. Solicitor General KK Venugopal has proposed to SC that he can show SC the secret reports of Indian Intelligence agencies. This protest says that they will not listen to Government and their offer to discuss these laws point by point, they are also now not prepared to listen to SC, in other words they will block Delhi till their demands are met that is MAY WAY OR HIGH WAY. Surely this is not democracy. Then why have parliaments, courts etc? let things be decided on streets? Even in Banana Republics this dos not happen. This Government is elected by 130 corer people surely no pressure group can highjack it like this.

What is even more dangerous is that these So called farmer protest is now saying that they on 26 Jan 2021 when we celebrate Republic Day by a mighty parade of Armed Forces, will disturb this parade by their tractor march. This is just not done and will shame India in front of whole world. Well, it is good that till date Modi Govt has shown its human face to these so called farmer protest. But like Shaheen Bagh before this where on false premises of CAA-NRC Muslims were instigated by the vested interests to carry out their dharna pradarshan to almost 50 long days again blocking Delhi and then Delhi riots claiming 52 lives, this happened because the Modi Govt did not take any decisive action against them and thy got encouraged.

This time this should not be repeated. All those Neta’s like Yogendra Yadav, Medha Patkar, who have now become farmer neta, or Tikait who is busy in his own politics, and opposition Party netas who are inciting these so called farmers from back door, as also ldrs of banned Sikh organisation Sikhs for Justice should be taken in protective custody if they continue to misbehave. Republic Day parade must be held at all costs. They must understand that India is a democracy but that also has some rules some discipline. We must not forget that in China after Tien Me Square all has been quiet. Democracy is not anarchy and what these so called farmer are doing is Desh Droh for which we have sufficient laws.

Brig Arun Bajpai (Retd) is a distinguished Defence and Strategic Analyst. Views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of IgMp. IgMp does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.