Narendra Modi’s announcement on Friday that the contentious new farm laws would soon be repealed is definitely a moment for rejoicing. Tho...
Narendra Modi’s announcement on Friday that the contentious new farm laws would soon be repealed is definitely a moment for rejoicing. Though farmers across the country had waged a sustained protest against the laws for almost a year, the possibility of a victory of their just struggle had looked like a dream only the day before.
This triumph will help fight the sense of defeat that has been setting in, especially in civil society, ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government returned to power in 2019. The farmers have shown that the brute majority that the party commands in Parliament can be made to bend before the resolve of the people on the street.
Actually, it would be more accurate would be to say that the farmers, by taking the path followed by the Muslim women when they decided to launch their struggle against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens, demonstrated that instead of depending on the courts and legislature for justice, the street must be transformed into the theatre of politics.
Democratic politics becomes meaningful when people take their destiny into their own hands. This moment belongs to the farmers and we must not take away their glory by talking about the cunning of an autocratic...
