In a speech at the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong case for the three farm laws, by saying that if status quo has kept 86% farmers poor, why not give the laws a chance and that amendments can always be made if problems arise. This is perfectly reasonable. When the Prime Minister of India, standing in Parliament says that maximum support prices (MSPs) will continue, it is difficult to understand what the farmers are being so adamant about. Why is it that the farmer leaders sitting on Delhi’s borders are taking the maximalist position that the laws must be repealed or else they will continue with the agitation? Why is it that even after 11 rounds of talks, even after government’s offer to discuss the farm laws clause by clause, and even after its offer to keep the laws on hold for 18 months, the protesters are so adamant? A microscopic minority cannot derail reforms that are meant for the good of nearly 600 million people, around 50% of this country’s population. As has been repeatedly said by this writer, by taking such an absolutist position, the farmer leaders have premised their agitation on politics, where the sole intention is to turn the government into a lame duck, so that further reforms cannot happen. And by allowing the protests to descend into complete anarchy and violence on 26 January, by allowing the desecration of the symbols of India’s nationhood, they have delegitimized their cause. For negotiations to continue, they will have to stop being inflexible and flush out the unruly elements—including Khalistanis—who have infiltrated their ranks.
No one is calling the protesting farmers Khalistanis, but there is more than enough proof that Khalistanis are using these protests to further their own cause and in this they have roped in international support thanks primarily to the presence of their sympathizers in Justin Trudeau’s Canadian government. The toolkit that teen activist Greta Thunberg tweeted, possibly by mistake, was not merely a “plan of action” that activists draw up for protests, but had clear imprints of Khalistan sympathisers. Courtesy the Greta fiasco, what was being suspected all along, that Khalistani elements were trying to piggyback on the farmers’ protests, became public knowledge. The whole argument that certain international celebrities, who will possibly have difficulty locating Delhi if asked to find on a map, woke up to the farmers’ protests on their own and started to tweet about it—almost in a coordinated manner—is not believable. Hidden and not so hidden hands are busy building a narrative against India as an authoritarian, fascist country, where democracy is receding under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The aim is to bring opprobrium to India. In this game, falsehood is the main weapon, so the “insurrection” on Republic Day is erased out of the carefully constructed narrative. Also, the issue is made out to be the oppression of a minority community—a scandalous charge, considering this particular community is among the most successful and visible in the country and has given a President, a Prime Minister and numerous heads of the armed forces.
So when the Prime Minister says in Parliament that “foreign destructive ideology” is at work, his critics and the Opposition need to take him seriously. What we are witnessing is an intense psy-war—it can also be called political warfare—being conducted against India. Considering the Khalistanis have the Pakistani establishment as one of their main backers, it won’t be wrong to say that both Pakistan and its “iron brother” China are involved in besmirching India’s name globally. Think of the timing. Just when India should have been lauded for doing a huge service to humanity by supplying vaccines all over the world, the headlines in the western press are all about India’s descent into chaos and totalitarianism, which is an outrageous lie and may adversely affect India’s image as an investment destination. This is the time to stay united to defeat the nefarious forces working against India. This is the time to raise ourselves above petty politics. Hence, it is shocking that the Maharashtra government will launch a probe against Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar for tweeting that India will defeat outside forces. Even if the tweets were made at the behest of the BJP, since when did expressing patriotic feelings become a crime in a sovereign nation? To target anyone for this, not just Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar, who are icons, is insanity. This must stop. Instead, the message should go out loud and clear that outside forces will not be able to stop India’s rise. As for the farmers, it’s time they realized that arm-twisting is not going to work. It’s time they woke up to the fact that reforms are the need of the hour and no amount of pressure will deflect India from that goal.
