Modi hails Sikhs but denounces their protests in RS speech; no word on farmers’ deaths and repeal of laws

PM Narendra Modi’s speech in Rajya Sabha on Monday, in his reply to the Motion of Thanks on President Ram Nath Kovind’s address in the Budget session, lacked concern, coherence and was full of contradictions.

While he hailed Sikhs on one hand, he denounced their protest against the farm laws on the other.

The PM, who famously promised to double the farmers’ income by 2022, neither uttered a single word on farmers’ death during the ongoing agitation nor on whether his government will repeal the laws or not.

More than 150 farmers have died over the last two months at Delhi’s borders, where they have been camping to demand a repeal of the farm laws. Eleven rounds of talks between the farmers and the government have failed to yield any result.

Moreover, Modi gave a dangerous spin to their legitimate demands and right to protest as a ‘conspiracy’ to defame the country. He termed the global support for the farmers’ protest as “Foreign Destructive Ideology” in his speech, which clearly shows his lack of concern for the farmers.

“The nation is making progress and we are talking about FDI, but I see that a new FDI has come to the fore. We have to protect the nation from this new FDI. We need Foreign Direct Investment but the new FDI is ‘Foreign Destructive Ideology’; we have to protect ourselves from it,” Modi said.

Hailing the Sikh community for its contribution in nation building, Modi said it had gone through a lot of suffering. “We must not forget what happened with Punjab. It suffered the most during the Partition. It cried the most during the 1984 riots. They became victims of the most painful incidents. Innocents were killed in J&K. Business of weapons was carried out in the northeast. All this affected the nation,” he said.

But he conveniently skipped the plight and humiliation that the community has been subjected to during his own government’s tenure.

It may be mentioned here that the movement against the three farm laws first broke out in Punjab and the largest chunk of the protesters belong to the Sikh community.

Modi also made an appeal asking farmers to end the protest. He said, “We want to assure that the MSP system won’t be done away with. Our government is open to talks”. Sadly, the reality is not as rosy as the PM’s speech made it out to be, and contradicts claims made by him in the Upper House.

The questions that arise are:

• If his government is committed to the MSP system, why did they refuse to give it in writing? Also, what is the problem in making it compulsory and protected under a law?
• If the Modi government is open for talks, then why has Delhi Police been busy lodging FIRs against the farmers’ leaders and jailing protesters?
• Why have trenches been dug and heavy barricading done at farmers’ protest sites, and why was the internet suspended at all such sites?

One cannot be misguided by the PM claiming in Rajya Sabha that “protest is farmers’ right” and take him for being an advocate of democratic protests. Had it been so, he would not have attacked the Opposition in his address. Instead, he would have used the opportunity to show real statesmanship and resolve the issues raised by the farmers