He battle ver reforms
M protests are set to intensify. The te’s high-handed attitude isn’t helping
With the Haryana government deploying force to crack down on farm protests in Karnal on Saturday, a movement that was alive but relatively passive has assud a new lease of life. As this newspaper reported Tuesday, farm unions plan to hold a
at Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh ) on September 5 to broaden their agenda. From osing the new farm laws, these unions will oppose the government’s economic policies, uding the recently unveiled asset monetisation gramme. There is politics, economics and geoghy enmeshed in the new round of farm activism. rst, the politics. A simple rule in dealing with a s movement — and there is no doubt that the m agitation is a mass movement — is not to do thing to aggravate it. The Centre has been clear it would not revoke the farm laws, but it has also n careful in not using force even when farm testers choked Delhi’s entry points or a segment ned violent on Republic Day. This is because in a tile situation, there is always possibility of excesforce; this alienates protesting groups, adds to er, and makes a resolution harder. Given the on of class and identity (Sikhs and Jats are at the front of the protests), using force is also an tation to social turmoil. That is why the video of a yana bureaucrat (Karnal sub-divisional gistrate Ayush Sinha) telling policemen to “break heads” of protesters — an uncceptable ruction by any standard — has become an rument of further mobilisation. his moment then has got enmeshed with graphy and electoral calculations. The expansion he farm movement from Punjab to Haryana and n to west UP, and from primarily Sikh farmers to farmers, lent it more weight. Now, in the run-up P elections, expect an anti-government offensive est UP in a bid to mobilise farmers in general, Jats in particular. But beyond the political ulus, there is an underlying political economy le developing in India now. The government is mitted to economic reforms — agricultural laws, atisation and asset monetisation are examples of push. And while this newspaper believes that e are sound ideas, it is but natural that they will te a backlash from those stakeholders who feel y will lose out as a result of the reforms. The farm ups are attempting to weave a wider narrative to aborate with the Opposition, trade unions, and ers. All of this makes it even more important for government to stay the course on reforms, but h sensitivity, not high-handedness.