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| Members of different political parties shout slogans during a protest against new farm laws in Mumbai, India, Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021. AP |
By Lakhvinder Singh
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However, despite the increasing pressure, the Modi government is holding its ground. In this situation, there is nothing anybody can do and say to convince it that these three farms bills can actually hurt the economy and need to be repealed. These laws are coming from the conceptual and theoretical framework where growth is seen as above everything else. According to this line of reasoning, where "growth is everything," these three laws are the basic minimum legislation that India must bring in at this stage of its economic development. It is feared that without these laws, the nation could face almost certain stagnation, decay and even economic collapse. These laws are being considered as the key to keeping the Indian economy growing at a time when it is facing serious pressure on all fronts. So there will be no going back to the Indian National Congress Party's socialist days. Corporate-led growth is being taken as the only way forward by India's current ruling forces. There is not much space to move left or right. So there will be no going back on the laws, no matter how much the farmers protest. The maximum the government has offered is to bring in some amendments where it felt the farmers have some genuine concerns. However, the basic economic thinking behind these laws stands.
However, the government's tough position doesn't mean that the current agitation of the farmers is going to waste. Actually, this is serving both sides very well. For a long time, the government feared the farmers' reactions to the reforms. So, it was going slowly and brought in reform laws only in stages. These protests have revealed the government's ability to face the farmers successfully. So the government may be emboldened by its successes in facing them. In the coming days, it can make a big push to open agriculture to the corporate sector.
Thus, while the farmers are busy with protests at the borders of Delhi, the government and big corporations are quietly building institutional mechanisms in the countryside, which are considered essential to implementing these "reforms." Before the farmers gathered on the Delhi borders, it was very difficult for the government to divert the farmers' attention to avoid disruptions in infrastructure development ― worth billions of dollars ― all over India. With the farmers gone it has been very quiet in the countryside. This aspect works very well for the government and corporations. In fact, the longer the farmers stay in Delhi, the better. This reason is why the Modi government has refused to use force on the farmers to push them back to their villages. It is estimated that India needs, at minimum, a "decade of peace and stability" to build the highways and storage places needed to put farmers' produce on the world market. If beaten back to their villages, farmers can restore their old tactics and disrupt whole development projects. That will be too costly and deadly as farmers are now mobilized and organized at the nationwide level. Earlier, farmers used to be mobilized and organize protests only at the local level. This situation may not remain the case in future. From this perspective, it is better to keep the farmers engaged in negotiations even though there is not much the government can give to them. As long as they are singing songs and eating free delicious food at the Delhi border, what seems to be the problem? It does not matter how longs it takes, but the farmers for sure will need to be sent back home smiling and in peace.
On the farmers' side also, the current deadlock and status quo works very well. The farmers' unions, which are leading the current protests, have been trying to mobilize farmers for long time against their worsening economic situation. But they were failing to bring the farmers together onto a single platform due to the diversity of issues involved. These laws have provided them a single platform and unity of purpose. So, they are in no hurry to sign a peace agreement with the central government. Farmers' leaders know these laws are just the beginning of the corporate-led modernization process in the agriculture sector. They know that they have time. They can disrupt this modernization process at any stage, time and place. So, farmers are focusing on building their organizational base first, which was destroyed due to infighting among union leaders.
Currently there are more than five hundred farmers' unions in India. As a result of this protest, a new nationwide, united, organizational structure, along with a new generation of union leadership, are emerging. This new nationwide network and platform are expected to serve farmers very well in coming years. The farmers' union leaders who are in their 80s are finding it a golden opportunity to hand over leadership to the younger generation, amidst the nationwide limelight. The site of protest is being considered a training ground for a new generation of union leaders. This situation explains why the leadership is in no hurry to sign a peace agreement, and why they are refusing the government's offer for a negotiated settlement. For the first time in decades, fame, wealth and power are flowing like water for the union leaders. What more could the farmers' leaders ask for? This situation is a God-sent opportunity for them to build a united and powerful movement. The union leaders are well aware that standing alone, these three laws cannot do much harm to their rural, agriculture-based way of life. What is feared are the laws that are expected to follow these initial ones. They know that they will need nationwide unity to resist and fight those laws when the corporate sector shows their open support of them and throws everything behind them. Currently, the corporate sector is being very silent and watching from afar.
The fault lines have been drawn, and both sides are digging in for a long fight ahead. The outcome of this fight will decide the future of one of the oldest civilizations on earth.
Lakhvinder Singh is the director of the peace program at the Asia Institute in Seoul. The views expressed in the article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.
