Unmasking the Politico-Religious Agitation

This “Kisan Andolan” had, in the beginning, shrouded itself with layers upon layers, and it took some time, but now with most of its peels off, its real purposes and motivations are becoming clearer even to casual observers. It was kick started with Rahul Gandhi’s and Capt. Amrinder Singh’s series of tractor rallies in Punjab and Haryana, in October 2020, in the wake of introduction of three farming legislations. The new laws on farming, many experts believed, had a promise to usher in a new era of liberation for the farming sector and were comparable to the liberation of the Industries and manufacturing sector brought about by dismantling of the License-Permit raj, in early 1990s under P.V. Narsimha Rao.

One of the very first fears that was expressed by the farm bodies was that the Government wanted to end APMCs (Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees) and the MSP (Minimum Support Price), even when the new farm laws did not contain any provision at all with respect to dismantling of APMCs or the MSP, which in turn meant that APMC regime was going to stay put just as it has been in the past. It is important to know here that MSP has never been incorporated into any statutory provision ever before and has always been there only by virtue of policy or executive action. The Government countered this fear of the farmers and the Kisan Unions by going ahead with procurement of paddy in APMCs this last season.

The Union Government has procured 21.05 million tons (mt) of paddy till November1, 2020, which is nearly 20 per cent up from 17.58 mt purchased during the same period last year. More importantly, of the total of 21.05 mt paddy procured, the major share of 14.8 mt has been procured from Punjab mandis. Similarly, CCI (Cotton Corporation of India), i.e., the body that procures cotton on behalf of the Union Government, has so far made a record purchase of 6.38 lakh bales of cotton, at the cost of Rs 1, 845. 62 crores, benefiting 1.20 lakh cotton growers, in the Malwa region of Punjab, at an MSP of Rs 5,665 per quintal.

Importantly there are reports that some private players have started making purchases of cotton for even Rs 5,900 per quintal that is way above the MSP, pushing the CCI to the place of second or third option for the Cotton farmers. This is indeed the very purpose of the new farming legislations that is to give greater freedom, in terms of more options, to the farmers.

The so called “Kisan Andolan” was never really about the new laws of farming as the said new laws of farming are completely in favour of the farmers and there is absolutely no truth in the allegation that contract farming will lead to taking over of the land of the farmers by private companies (like Ambani, Adani). “The Farmers (Empowerment And Protection) Agreement on price Assurance and Farm Services Act,2020”, provides in its Section 8 that, “No farming agreement shall be entered into for the purpose of any transfer, including sale, lease and mortgage of the land or premises of the farmer…” And further the section 14 of the Act limits the liability of the farmer, on account of any advance payment or cost of inputs, if found due to the sponsor, to such an amount not exceeding the actual cost incurred by the sponsor. To crown it all Section 15 of the said Act lays down a blanket protection to a farmer, as it says that, …”no action for recovery of any amount due in pursuance of an order passed (of recovery) … shall be initiated against the agricultural land of the farmer”. The interests of the farmers have been amply safeguarded in the Act in more than one ways, as there are other provisions protecting the farmers such as the provision that protects the farmers against the price fluctuations. The legitimate concern of the farmers that the potential buyers should be registered prior to the trade deal however ought to be incorporated in the legislation.

It is now as clear as daylight that the real purpose of this agitation was politico-religious from day one, at least for most of the leaders of the stir. That is why instead of trying to explain the real benefits and ways and means of exploiting these legislations in their favour, the farmers were blatantly misled, by their leaders, knowing full well that an average farmer would not care to acquaint himself of what is written in the actual text of these legislations. Almost all the leading men of the ‘Andolan’ such as Rakesh Tikait, Chaduni, Yogender Yadav, Darshan Pal had either fought elections in the past and lost or have been associated with a political party. These pathbreaking legislations were therefore seen as an opportunity by these leaders to claw back into the political limelight once again and to be hailed as true leaders of the masses. The political parties in the opposition thought that it was a God send opportunity to sully the image of the Prime Minister, who they thought had taken an unnecessary risk in promulgating the new laws of farming and all they needed to do was spread a canard or two about the laws, amongst the naïve farming community.

The farm bodies were not really unhappy and are not exactly saying no to the immense amount of money that has been flowing in from abroad, perhaps little realising, at least in the beginning, that their agitation was gradually being taken over by the communal and secessionist forces, whose ultimate masters were calling the shots from abroad and who in their final crescendo, on January 26th will bring the whole edifice of the ‘Andolan’ crashing down, however, mercifully, without the administration having to fire a single bullet even in the air. The subsequent events, especially the mercenary foreign celebrities twittering and the revelations about the meticulous planning to cause widespread disruptions on 26th January via the toolkit and the“Chakka Jaam” have also led to growing disenchantment of the masses towards the agitation, now having a limited appeal only in a section of the farming community, on the opposite end of the political pole. It is now easy to say that right from the beginning it was a politico-religious agitation only, aimed at showing down the elected Government and not really a ‘Kisan Andolan’.