Whose victory is this anyway?

Both, BJP and Modi supporters and the hardcore Modi and BJP haters along with major Indian opposition parties were taken aback on Friday morning of 19th November when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise announcement to withdraw the reformist Farmers Bill. The agitation started by the Modi detractors and those opposing these reforms had made the lives of every Indian, miserable for 14 months. Prime Minister Modi’s decision sent shock waves to his supporters in India and world over while his opponents and the agitating leaders were also left clueless on the bombshell. When the agitation had started appearing to be overstretched and being dragged pointlessly, heading to die its natural death, Narendra Modi’s bolt from the blue decision has left countless questions unanswered.

As expected, and typically, political analysts, newspaper editorials, TV anchors and political parties started making their own interpretations of Modi’s decision. Mostly calling it a victory of agitating farmers while opposition parties are busy in taking the credit to bowing Modi down against the unity of farmers and the opposition together. Whatever the real reason of Modi’s shock decision may be, it certainly has set a bad precedence for the future of the country. It has given a prescription to those forces who do not want to see Modi or BJP at centre, to create ruckus and chaos to get any of their demands accepted however unreasonable or anti people it may be. Every politician, economist and even those opposing these new reforms knew that the new laws were only for the good of farmers especially the small landowners, which make around 80% of the farming community. Now since the new laws are repealed, things will be back to the same old ways as they have been for past 75 years. I am having a gut feeling that one-day masses (read farmers here) will revolt to bring these reforms back. Its only the middlemen and big commission agents who are getting benefited by the age-old existing laws by sucking the small, vulnerable, and poor farmers.

It’s a shame that some political parties are celebrating the repealing of reform bills as their victory without showing any sensitivity towards the poor farmers. We all know that in India most of the political parties are dynasties and the politics runs within family and their close support circles hence the welfare of the poor or the common man comes at the fag end of their priorities. It is even more shameful that for all these years the same political parties did carry these reforms in their election manifestoes during successive elections and promised to implement them for the benefit of farmers when back in power. Now, just for their political gains the same parties and people with vested interests are opposing these revolutionary reforms that could have changed lives of millions of poor farmers forever. Actually, the opposition of these reforms was being done just for the sake of opposing anything that Modi government does. There is not even an iota of any public welfare in minds of these leaders. It’s now under investigation and the unconfirmed reports are that the agitation was being heavily funded by anti-India and separatist forces from overseas, left leaning cabal, Pakistan, and China together to create unrest and to disintegrate India.

Modi government needs to come out clean about such an undemocratic action taken by them. If this trend becomes a precedence than the same people will demand to repeal all the recently passed laws by the parliament and that will make a mockery of the parliamentary democracy in the country. The so-called farmer leaders have already indicated immediately after the announcement of withdrawal of Farmer Bills that the protest will not end any sooner. They intend to continue this nuisance in some name or other since their real reason as said earlier, was not the Farmers bill but the opposition of Modi and the BJP government only. - Yugal Parashar