End the farm agitation, now
Farm unions are undermining their own cause by sticking to the protests
Last week, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, representing a set of farm unions, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It placed the onus of resuming dialogue to end the farm agitation on him, while sticking to its demand for the repeal of farm laws and a legal guarantee of minimum support prices (MSP). On Saturday, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the unions should either accept the government’s offer to suspend the farm laws for 18 months or come up with an alternative proposal for talks to resume, and again rejected the demand for the repeal of laws.
May 26 marks six months of the farm agitation. The movement is a classic example of how a grassroots struggle can lose its way because of rigidity and the absence of sound political leadership. It succeeded in bringing issues of India’s political economy, especially the transition in agriculture, to the forefront; it raised genuine questions about the process through which farm laws were pushed through in Parliament; it represented a moment of mass assertion in politics and pushed the government onto the defensive; and it drew international solidarity.
But farm leaders failed to capitalise on their own political success. On January 26, elements within the movement turned violent, tarring India’s Republic Day celebrations. The unions refused to acknowledge that the government was willing to introduce a set of amendments to address their concerns, not wholly but substantially. They did not take up the government’s reasonable offer of the suspension of laws — an 18-month suspension effectively means the laws are unlikely to come into force during the term of the current Lok Sabha. They imposed impossible demands such as a legal guarantee for MSP, which will have inflationary consequences. And most fatally, they have continued mass protests even as the second wave has devastated lives in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and west UP — and these political congregations would have played a role in spreading the infection, putting at risk the lives of farmers, their families, community, and society at large. With the Centre reiterating that its offer is on the table, the farm unions must accept the 18-month suspension of laws, end their agitation, explain to their own base why maximalism won’t work, focus on the pandemic, and engage in consultations to improve the legal framework over the next year-and-a-half. Instead of intensifying protests, it would be wiser to use the six-month landmark to move beyond the politics of agitation.