The farmers have suspended their year-long protest and let’s hope the matter ends here
After forcing the Union Government’s hand to repeal the three contentious farm laws and eliciting from it a written assurance on a host of pertinent issues, farmers from a number of States — who had been agitating on different borders of Delhi since November 26 last year — have promised to vacate the protest sites in the morning of Saturday, December 11. Though they started pulling down their makeshift tents on Thursday afternoon after much rejoicing, the initial euphoria soon subsided and the farmer leaders clarified that the agitation was only being “suspended” as of now. A leader, Gurnam Singh Charuni, said that the umbrella organisation of various farmer outfits (the Samyukt Kisan Morcha) would hold a review meeting on January 15 and if the Government didn’t move ahead on its assurances by then, they could resume the stir. They reached the decision after receiving a letter from the Union Government with promises of forming a committee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) guarantee and withdrawing cases (involving both stubble burning and of clashes against the police in a handful of northern States) against them immediately.
The Centre also agreed to pay compensation to those who lost their lives during the protest, pointing out that Uttar Pradesh and Haryana had given in-principle consent to the demand while Punjab has already announced it. Thousands of farmers had camped at the borders of Delhi, with dozens dying from the scorching heat, a bitter winter and even the deadly second wave of COVID. The protest, which presented one of the biggest challenges to the Modi-led Government at the Centre, effectively ends just in the nick of time to offer some reprieve to the BJP at the hustings ahead of the Assembly elections in five States, including the politically significant Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Goa, in the first quarter of 2022. In fact, there are voices mocking the Government that it surrendered its case after year-long posturing only because it didn’t want to antagonise the strong farmers’ lobby. Be that as it may, the matter hasn’t yet cooled down completely and mischievous embers among the political and farming classes could still try to flare up trouble for the ruling party at the eleventh hour. Both the farmer leaders and the Government need to be on the lookout for such elements and nip their antics in the bud.