Farmer’s protests and Global hypocrisy: Shafaqna analysis

by Tauqeer Abbas
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India’s republic day turned into a battle ground onTuesday when after protesting farmers broke through police barricades to storm Delhi’s historic Red Fort complex. On foot and in tractors, the protesters were part of a huge rally planned for India’s Republic Day. Many protesters diverted from agreed routes and clashes broke out with police. One protester died and more than 80 police officers were injured.Mobile internet services were suspended in parts of Delhi and some metro stations closed as security forces scrambled to restore order.

The raising of the Sikh flag is being treated as an act of separatism by many, including key protest leaders. This is because the protests have been, by and large, peaceful and secular. Indeed, in a rarity for the Modi government, the assault on poor farmers has had little to do with religion and more with gratifying the BJP’s corporate backers. Notable protest leaders have been quick to blame instigators, including a Punjabi movie actor, but to their credit, have also accepted blame for their protest taking a violent turn, showing more maturity than most politicians.

Protest leader Yogendra Yadav directly accused Sidhu and gangster-turned politician Lakha Sidhana of trying to flare up protesters for several days, with Sidhu unsuccessfully demanding a leadership position in the movement. He also noted Sidhu’s close ties with Bollywood actor and politician Sunny Deol, and through him, the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Opposition politicians have also accused him of being affiliated with the BJP’s parent party, the terrorist-adjacent RSS.
 Mr Modi was hoping to exploit a fractious opposition, but the farmers may have actually united them. It goes to the credit of the sagacious men and women heading the protests that they have given Mr Modi a truer reality to contend with, one which makes his penchant for divisive politics and narrow nationalism a less rewarding political platform. If Mr Modi decides not to heed the protests, the farmers too plan to stay resolute. The press conferences their leaders have addressed over the past two months in punishing weather outside the capital have been a celebration of democracy and a will to defend it.
From this episode one thing is clear that if a protest of such magnitude and significance was happening in any other state, particularly Pakistan, various notices would have been issued and international condemnation would have been immediate by countries like the US. No longer can such insincerity and hypocrisy be condoned. Challenging the state, as openly as the farmers protest has, represents a systemic issue within the Indian state that must be addressed on a global forum.
Shafaqna Pakistan
Pakistan.shafaqna.com

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