Amandeep Sandhu
After the stupendous win by farmers against the government, one would expect a sense of renewed confidence in Indian civil society. Ironically, of late, we see Punjab – which led the protests – in a revival of its old religiouspolitical crises: Normally, the way to understand any crises is to focus on the money. Who profits? Given that this is election season, due in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and other states in early 2022, it won’t be amiss to focus on who stands to benefit from the crises and churning in Punjab.
When Prime Minister Modi repealed the draconian Farm Laws on November 19, 2021, there was a sense of jubilation in civil society and the farmers were on top of the moon. Sadly, the trust deficit in our society is so high that farmers did not call off their protest immediately. It took another 22 days, including the Parliament formally repealing the laws, and the government issuing a written guarantee for the farmers to suspend their agitation. The idea was that since the Minimum Support Price demand is not yet met, the farmers’ union body Samyukt Kisan Morcha will take stock of the government’s move to form a committee on January 15, 2022 and decide on how to pursue the matter. The farmers’ victory deeply upset the Hindutva eco-system. After all, in his entire public career, Modi has never taken any order back. He is seen as the strongman who would usher in the Hindu Rashtra but now, he has backtracked. The Hindutva eco-system went into a stunned silence. The various regional solidarities built during the protest, the bonds based on kirrt – work – also upset the larger Sangh agenda to keep society divided on lines of religion and caste.
The Sangh knows that it is the Sikh community, miniscule minority in the nation, majority in Punjab, which has served earlier as the leader and later as the glue to the entire protest. That is why right from the beginning of the protests, the government, its corporate media kept trying to label the Sikhs as anti-national, separatist, even Khalistani. Those attempts failed and finally, as enough evidence shows, a conspiracy was launched to enact the incident of sacrilege at Singhu border on October 15.
The events in Punjab ever since the farmers reached home - incidents of sacrilege and the brutal killings of the alleged miscreants, the bomb blast, the vertical split in SKM over contesting elections, the alliance of Captain Amarinder Singh’s new political party with BJP, the poaching of Congress leaders by BJP – show that Punjab is losing its stature as the force behind the victorious farmers’ protest. We must know the BJP are past masters at dirty tricks and the perception game. Sacrilege, blasphemy, is a running fault line among the Sikhs. While the Sikh ethos of the protest – sewa and langar, service and shared community food – went global through the protests and COVID pandemic second wave; the crisis of religious identity has also stalked Punjab and the community for at least the last seven years, with no justice in sight. This in spite of regime change, change of chief ministers in the current ruling party, multiple task forces and Special Investigative Teams. Actually, the insult to religious symbols is much older – from British times, the Partition, the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom. The angry outburst by a section of Sikhs against incidents of sacrilege and the spin the BJP gave to the killings in Uttar Pradesh – ‘Hindus are in danger in Punjab’ – shook the nation’s perception about the Sikh community.
Traditionally Punjab has had two political parties – Akalis and Congress; in 2017 it had three, AAP joined the fray; this time it is five with BJP + Punjab Lok Congress and farmer’s Samyukt Samaj Morcha throwing their hat in the ring. The field is split wide open but certainly BJP which had become persona non grata in the last year in the state is gaining traction. We are yet to see whether it serves as a win for them but it certainly divides the people’s votes and gives them a foothold in the state. Meanwhile, the date the SKM had decided – January 15th – is approaching. During the protests, the SKM had mandated that no political party would be part of it. As of now, given that almost two-third of SKM unions are participating in elections, it is yet to be seen how SKM recasts itself or will it be unable to hold the central government accountable over their promise to set up a committee to decide on MSP for the whole country.
It is clear that Modi’s repeal of laws was double-edged. It did end the protest but it also revealed a deep chasm in the farmers’ union body thus vacating the chance of the farmers being able to challenge the government in case new laws are made. In parallel, manufactured events led to Punjab’s outburst and display of anger. The lesson here is: however hard is a victory, it is important to consolidate its gains.
SKM had won against the government because the protests remained resolute and non-violent. Those lessons would have come so handy at a time like this when doctors in Delhi are protesting and need support from civil society.
(Amandeep Sandhu is the author of PANJAB: Journeys Through Fault Lines)