Farm law repeal: The worry is that after this decision, the possibility of serious debate among stakeholders and political parties on farms reforms with which they have grappled for years, if not decades, is unlikely to happen in the near future.
“If the deaf are to hear,” Bhagat Singh said during his trial in April 1929, “the sound has to be very loud.”
Ironically, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi confessed that “there must have been some deficiency in our efforts, due to which we could not explain the truth like the light of the lamp to some farmers,” the sounds emanating from farmers’ protest sites around Delhi were no longer thunderous like they once were some months ago.
The government’s action also was not the hallmark of a hearing-impaired and sightless regime. Instead, it is that of people who realised that the tide was turning against them and damage control steps were post-haste required.
The moot point is if this evasive action is way too late for polls in five states early next year. Given that barely forty days remain before 2021 fades into history and just another month thereafter that campaigning will gather momentum, will this action not be seen as ‘victory’ by alienated communities, and then have them asking for more of the same?
