{"id":171075,"date":"2021-09-07T01:12:17","date_gmt":"2021-09-06T19:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/?p=171075"},"modified":"2021-09-07T01:12:17","modified_gmt":"2021-09-06T19:42:17","slug":"eyes-on-poll-battles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/2021\/09\/07\/eyes-on-poll-battles\/","title":{"rendered":"Eyes on poll battles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Food Soldiers Dilemma<\/strong>
\nBy Poonam I Kaushish<\/strong><\/p>\n

What does one do when a script is stuck between the Sarkar and farmers demand for repeal of three contentious laws? Both, operating across a wide chasm of belief and trust? Hold a razzmatazz Mahapanchayat to reignite protests. Precisely what Rakesh Takait did at UP\u2019s Muzaffarnagar Sunday, farmers new karambhoomi.<\/p>\n

Forgotten was the district\u2019s ignominy of ugly Hindu-Muslim riots 2013 leaving over 60 dead. A watershed moment which saw BJP\u2019s rise in the run-up to 2014 Lok Sabha elections and thereafter where it reaped massive political and electoral dividends, creating an aura of electoral invincibility.<\/p>\n

At one level, the Centre and UP Sarkars have only themselves to blame for resurrecting Tikait\u2019s career. In January Yogi\u2019s Government\u2019s mishandling of Tikait\u2019s Bharatiya Kisan Union at Ghazipur and his effective use of \u2018art of crying\u2019 led to an outpouring of support, making him the new champion of food soldiers against Modi\u2019s farm laws and turned a Sikh farmers-led movement into a Jat rebellion with the chutzpah to stand up to the Government.<\/p>\n

By turning their back on a negotiated settlement against the three contentious laws and taking a maximalist position, the Government has made plain it refusal to back down. Its contention: reforms would free-up India\u2019s troubled agricultural sector by giving farmers more choice of buyers for their produce and double incomes by 2022. Farmer claim the laws are a ploy to corporatise the sector and result in crony capitalism.<\/p>\n

Clearly, a cat and mouse game between the Government and farmers on who blinks first. With the agitation entering its ninth month frustration seems to be building up among kisan ranks with some returning to their villages. With Assembly elections slated for early 2022, perhaps Tikait is muscle flexing and looking to tap into farmers\u2019 anger by holding rallies and bandhs to wean away Jats from BJP alongside make himself relevant and be counted in the forthcoming poll. Notwithstanding, the Takait brothers rallied Jats behind the Hindutva Brigade last polls.<\/p>\n

Western UP which primarily comprises Jats, Gujjars and Muslims accounts for 29 Lok Sabha and 136 Assembly seats out of 403. In the 2017 Assembly polls the BJP won 105 of the 136 seats. Of 29 Lok Sabha seats Mulayam\u2019s Samajwadi and Mayawati\u2019s BSP wrested only five from BJP in the region while Chaudhary\u2019s RLD drew a blank.<\/p>\n

Farmers claim the Mahapanchayat has doused communal tensions that helped BJP and has rekindled old Hindu-Muslim solidarity which threatens to weaken the Party\u2019s political grip in the region and begin fresh political mobilisation against it ahead of 2022. As per 2011 Census, the total population of Western UP is 71,217,132 of which 72.29% is\u00a0Hindu with Jats constituting 17% and 26.21% is\u00a0Muslim.<\/p>\n

Already, the Jat-centric RLD with strong roots in the region has tapped into farmers\u2019 anger by unequivocally putting its weight behind the protests. The Party has allied with Samajwadi which is BJP\u2019s main challenger in the upcoming elections.<\/p>\n

However, the Hindutva Brigade does not seem unduly perturbed. Asserted a senior UP leader, \u201cAmong Jat farmers sentiment is mixed. While some attended the rally, many kept a cautious distance from the larger political messaging it sought to send out, not a few wondered if it would really benefit the Opposition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added another Minister, \u201cIf Jats consolidate behind our rivals, it would push OBCs to rally behind us, which helps us. Also, we will involve our Jat leaders along-with social activists, spiritual gurus and those who have influence in Khaps, meet them, placate the community and convince them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides, both the Centre and State Governments have promised to increase the State-advised price for sugarcane, before November \u2014- the minimum rates that sugar mills must pay farmers. The State Government has also asked sugar mills to clear farmers pending dues, among other measures aimed at winning back their support.<\/p>\n

Pertinently, in western UP anger over stagnant sugarcane prices was the key factor that led farmers to join protests last winter. If there is a substantial increase from Rs 315 per quintal of sugarcane farmers will support the BJP. A sentiment endorsed by Khap leaders who feel if Chief Minister Yogi walks his talk on promises, things would change. \u201cWe are not against the Government, we are only against some of its policies. If he does something good for farmers, people will support him,\u201d said a Khap chief.<\/p>\n

Countered another, \u201cLast year, the State Government pressed charges against several farmers under the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act over stubble-burning. Now, it says it would consider withdrawing those cases. They made that law, do they think we are stupid and will be conned?\u201d<\/p>\n

A Samajwadi leader dismisses these promises as political expediency. \u201cThere are too many issues. It is not just about sugarcane prices. What about electricity which is more expensive for farmers here than in Punjab and Haryana? For four years the Government broke farmers and tortured them mentally now no one is going to be taken in by their promises.\u201d<\/p>\n

In sharp contrast, in Punjab kisans agitation isn\u2019t just a battle to seek repeal of the three legislations but is more deep-rooted and reflects a wider range of concerns about the emerging agrarian economy. Besides, securing a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price, the battle is also to stop India\u2019s rich capitalists from smuggling out farmers\u2019 labour power without paying the cost.<\/p>\n

Sans casteism it is rooted in the social base of everybody working on farms with dignity. A majority of Sikh farmers are Jats and more educated who are aware of political gimmicks like Modi rushing to a gurudwara and\u00a0kneeling before the\u00a0Guru Granth Sahib.<\/p>\n

But the BJP is unperturbed. It is not a big political player in the State as the battle is between the Congress, Badals\u2019 Akali and Kejriwal\u2019s AAP. But that it does not cascade into a domino effect in neighbouring Haryana is something the Party is keenly watching. The State too is headed for polls next year.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen if Modi Sarkar\u2019s muscular strategy works or will it end up uniting farmers even more? On one hand, the Government is fortifying protest sites thereby sending wrong signals and on the other, it has left the door open for talks. Time now, for both sides to forego their ego, find a middle path to create greater goodwill on all sides.<\/p>\n

The farmers might have genuine grouses. But this is not the way to go about getting the Government to see reason. By remaining stubbornly inflexible they are creating a perception of being more interested in grandstanding wanting to humble the Government than seeking an equitable solution to their woes.<\/p>\n

With every Party trying to exploit the situation politically it is not too late for a course correction. Both the Government and kisans should climb down from their stubborn intransigence and restart negotiations in the larger interest of farmers and the country. Sagacity must prevail. \u2014 INFA<\/p>\n

\n

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Food Soldiers Dilemma By Poonam I Kaushish What does one do when a script is stuck between the Sarkar and farmers demand for repeal of three contentious laws? Both, operating across a wide chasm of belief and trust? Hold a razzmatazz Mahapanchayat to reignite protests. Precisely what Rakesh Takait did at UP\u2019s Muzaffarnagar Sunday, farmers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-171075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171075\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}