Farmers’ agitation clearly shows even an autocrat like Modi can be made to bend through Gandhian means

If there is one hallmark of the current regime in power in the country, it is the bravado and the swagger with which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has conducted his administration in the last seven-odd years.

Love it or hate it, Modi has managed to mesmerize the country so much that he managed to push the worst of his decisions like Demonetisation, the ill-conceived GST ‘reforms’ and even the sudden lockdown and still saw his party winning elections while all kinds of dissent and dissenters were ruthlessly crushed.

We are aware of the story of 83-year-old Jesuit priest Stan Swamy suffering imprisonment without being granted bail even on health grounds. Centres of students’ dissent like Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) were attacked by goons while the Delhi Police kept watching the mayhem going on inside the campus. Tall civil society activists like Teesta Setalvad were either slapped with income tax or legal notices with the loud and clear message being: keep quiet, or else...

The government conveyed to all and sundry that there was no scope of any protest or dissent as long as Narendra Modi was in power; if anyone dared the government on any count, that person will have to bear consequences. The Modi government literally continued crushing all sorts of dissent with an iron hand while the people continued to support the Prime Minister.

But as the Urdu saying goes, ‘Har Firaun ke liye ek Moosa bana hai (every Pharao gets his own Moses), and Modi too got a Moses in the form of the farmers’ agitation at Delhi’s borders.

Almost two months after thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh gathered outside Delhi demanding repeal of the farm laws enacted by it, the Modi government, as everybody said, blinked on Wednesday, stating that it was ready to freeze farmer laws for 18 months and was willing to change them after discussions with the agitating farmers.

It was the first time that the Modi government swallowed its pride after repeatedly declaring that there will be no going back on the three contentious laws that deal with agriculture ‘reforms’.

But what explains this sudden change of heart of the Modi government on the issue of dissent and protests? The government evidently realized that the farmers’ protest had touched the hearts and minds of at least the populace of rural India and it might cost the government politically.

The announcement came a day after RSS general secretary Bhiyaji Joshi told a national daily that both the farmers and the government must find common ground to resolve the deadlock. It was quite evident that the RSS, with its ears to the ground, conveyed to no one else but the Prime Minister himself that not resolving the farmers’ issue could hurt the BJP’s poll prospects.

Well, the agitating farmers called Modi’s bluff and forced him to blink. It is indeed a major victory of not just the farmers but also all democratic forces which have been reeling under an inhumane administration that was till now unwilling to heed to even the peaceful protest. But the credit surely goes to those men and women who have been braving it out at Delhi’s borders demanding a repeal of the farm laws for almost two months. Their ‘do or die’ kind of resolve ultimately forced the government to bend.

It could very well be a turning point for the Indian Opposition that had been helplessly watching the Modi juggernaut marching ahead so far. Herein lies a political message for the Opposition parties that the way to succeed in opposing the government on any issue lies in peaceful street protests provided there is a unity of purpose as well as ranks as displayed by the farmers.

The farmers’ agitation clearly shows that the Modi ‘magic’ can be dispelled only through Gandhian means of moral force that farmers displayed through their protest by putting up in the open in this biting cold of December and January. Their sacrifices won the hearts and minds of countrymen and evidently frightened even an autocratic ruler like Narendra Modi.

It is for the Opposition parties now to take to the streets in a Gandhian mode and win the peoples’ hearts and minds like the farmers did. It will not just force Modi to bend but will consolidate votes for them as well.