Dangerous turn
The phrase ‘protesting farmers’ comes up like a leitmotif in news reports of Wednesday’s violence unleashed by pro-Khalistan radicals on the Punjab-Chandigarh border. It is a matter of great pride for the farmers of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh that they fought against the farm laws that they feared would dismantle the minimum support price regime and got the Union Government to accede to their demands. Since 2014, it is the only instance of a protracted popular movement that was wholly successful in making the Central Government eat crow. However, with great success comes great responsibility.
The farmers as a body — representing landless labourers, landed tillers and all those involved in the chain of production of food — have a special place in Indian hearts. The hardships that they endure and the meagre returns that they get to keep our granaries overflowing justifiably offer them a halo of appreciation bordering on reverence. Along with this is a unifying spirit of brotherhood within a geographical spread from Attari to Agra, which offers mobilisational advantages to this group like to none other. All these achievements and attributes are being squandered by a few who are turning some farmer groups into the vanguard of a communal and radical agenda.
The Punjab Police are to be blamed primarily for allowing a group of radicals to pitch camp at Mohali and then to march towards Chandigarh. This group and others who have injured 40 cops with swords, spears and sticks are still being allowed to stay on. The police of the union territory, too, were unprepared for the Punjab Police washing their hands of the violence. The courts are the right forum to get militancy-era convicts languishing in jail released, as was done in the case of the Rajiv Gandhi assassins. If Shiromani Akali Dal wants to turn the convicts’ release into a political issue, it is most welcome to do so. But the farmers should not lose their credibility by lending their platform to a failed Opposition. On its part, the Punjab Government should understand that the radical fire will first singe the state before spreading elsewhere. Let’s douse it.
