At the end of day 19 of the prevailing stalemate the country has been gifted due to the three contentious farm laws, it’s more or less certain the Central government is in no way going to accede to the principal demand which is a total roll back. After a token all-India strike spanning four hours last week, Monday saw the much tried and tested route of hunger strike and the issue taking an added dimension with social activist and anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare writing to the Union Agriculture Minister that he will resume his hunger strike if the Centre doesn’t resolve farmers’ issues immediately. The billion-dollar question now is when will the impasse end, or will it end at all?
It will be extremely disturbing to notice how an issue that could have been avoided has metamorphosed into a nagging problem now with far-reaching ramifications not just in the northern states, but across the country as well. With every passing day, agitations are surfacing in newer and rather unthinkable pockets and that it’s not going to be restricted within the farming community and the spill-over effect is also going to touch the political landscape is much evident, at least from the initial signals. Taking a major decision, the Indian National Lok Dal on Monday announced it will boycott the upcoming municipal polls in Haryana to protest against the laws. News on indefinite hunger strikes from various stakeholders of the farming community including the one from the BJP-ruled UP will surely cause discomfort for the champions of the laws. The intention from the game plan of deferring the talks successively, purportedly for reaching a solution can be figured out easily- to make the farmers drain out of their zeal and compel them to leave the arena midway. The fact, however, is that the more this delaying method where at the end of each day the outcome is nil with the hope being kept alive only for the next date(s) of talks, the more it will be cemented in the minds of farmers that the government is really acting as an ‘agent’ of crony capitalists, whom, they believe will be the primary beneficiaries of the laws. International reprimand has already flown in and it will not be surprising if more heads of states join the Canadian PM in criticism. It would not be surprising also if the issue snowballs into a major law and order problem very soon.
The only way-out seems to be to ‘concede’ what the farmers are saying. The government must not view it as a prestige issue and review it with a magnanimous attitude. The question is will the attitude be shown?

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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