Monday’s developments over the ongoing agitation against the three farm bills that are technically laws now after the President’s assent is a clear indication that it’s not going to remain restricted to Punjab or Haryana. At the heart of the national capital near India Gate, in a maiden case of eruption of violence, farmers set on fire a tractor and in Karnataka there was a state-wide bandh too. On the political front, besides cementing unity among opposition parties, the laws have caused fissure in the ruling NDA. The Shiromani Akali Dal which earlier withdrew its MP from ministership has snapped all ties with the ruling government. Under these evolving developments, next month’s Bihar polls will be watched with extra attention, only to find out if there are any negative electoral repercussions.

Amid the heaping arguments and counter-arguments regarding ‘efficacies’ or ‘harmfulness’ of the three acts i.e. the FPTC Act, FAPA & FS Act and EC Act, that which is distinctly observable is the missing trust among farmers. Despite all-round efforts by the government to convince them regarding the long-term salubrious effects on Indian agriculture and the effort thereto to construct a narrative that it’s all but handiwork of the opposition which is spreading ‘misconceptions’, as of now, there is no success and the mounting protests should serve as a premonition that more turbulent days are ahead. There are multiple reasons to cite why a large number of farmers are in no mood to trust the government. Firstly, the procedure through which the bills were made laws was unprecedented vis-à-vis parliamentary norms. Their bulldozing sans a parliamentary debate and total disregard of appeals of various farmers’ bodies across the country for a rethink are perhaps the primary causes that have led to the growing mistrust. In addition, the much-talked about Minimum Support Price (MSP) is still under-defined in the new laws. Even if there is no explicit mention that the MSP mechanism will end, there is no legal assurance either that there will be no procurement of farm produce below the government-mandated MSP. This is exactly what the farmers are agitating for and the verbal assurances are being construed as empty promises. Also, the promised “revolutionary changes” through greater market access and better price have been far from convincing to farmers and they have started viewing the entry of corporates as an end of their independence.

It’s highly disturbing to observe that still now there are no sensible efforts to win back farmers’ trust. An insertion of a clause or two in these law(s) that would address their concerns regarding MSP and other unagreed points would have been the solutions. Without this, the agitation might grow into proportion beyond control.