Skip to main content

Farmers struggle starts dictating political discourse from Nandigram

 

Farmers struggle starts dictating political discourse from Nandigram

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

 

Strong reaction to the introduction of the three laws is one first major issue in which the assessment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi miserably failed.

Once this struggle got triggered in Punjab, Modi government could never make out that this battle for survival would assume such momentous dimension. This struggle is now expanding every day involving farmers from almost every state from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.

And now it has started dictating political discourse and that too in the space that has been vacant in the absence of a political outfit at the national level with the Congress continuing to be on the downslide and the Left having been marginalised even in West Bengal.

The intervention by this struggle to protect the very idea of inclusive India has started from Nandigram in West Bengal, the most prestigious seat in the elections in this state. It is in Bengal that the battle on the very idea of a liberal India is being fought.

The farmer leaders have started campaigning against the BJP with a call to the people to defeat this party that propagates politics of divisiveness and is anti-farmer. The farmers struggle, as expected, has started getting transformed into a platform to mobilise the forces that believe in the idea of inclusive and liberal India.

It is pertinent to mention here that Bengal has been closely linked to Punjab as these two regions had spearheaded the freedom struggle and freedom fighters from these two regions joined hands from time to time beginning with the Ghadr Party that was the first to give call for complete freedom in 1913.

These are the two regions that have produced the maximum freedom fighters. One has to visit Cellular Jail Museum, Port Blair in Andaman.

West Bengal and Punjab were linked again during the Naxalite struggle that was sparked in the fields of West Bengal and found fertile grounds in Punjab. The Leftists have been vacating the democratic space ever since the fall of the Marxist government that was ousted by the TMC. It is now the TMC headed by street fighter Mamta Banerjee who is the Chief Minister who is defending her bastion.

It is direct fight between Mamta Banerjee and Narendra Modi. In case BJP wins this battle, Punjab would be the last hurdle for the BJP to cross to implement its Hindutva agenda.

It is in this context that the intervention by the farmers struggle in this crucial battle is significant. This is the battle that is going to dictate the political discourse of India that is already turning from liberal to autocratic democracy.



The farmers have compromised with the fact that this is going to be a long-drawn fight. It is the first such struggle in the country in which the protesters have started replacing tented accommodation with pucca structures and installed coolers  and air conditioners. Three townships have come up at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur at the doors of the national capital.

The BJP could not realise that the people who are rooted in the soil don’t get fatigued so early. They are the people who have been conditioned by the nature to fight.

The design to divert the struggle stands frustrated. Of course, this section continues to target farmer leaders thereby. Such criticism only goes in favour of the government. Pointing out weaknesses is different from abusing the leaders.

This is the struggle that is going to decide as to which development model the country has to follow. Ironically, both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress have been in consensus till now so far as the development model is concerned. The Congress is supporting the farmers struggle perhaps not due to conviction but only due to being in opposition. These laws are rooted in the very policies that are the legacy of the earlier UPA government.

The Leftists have distanced from the farmer leaders campaigning in West Bengal. The problem with the CPM is that it has reduced itself just to a regional party. Many of the farmer leaders are rooted in Marxist thought but are not part of any organised party. This struggle has provided opportunity to the Leftists too to shed parochial thinking and work towards revival.

It is the intervention in West Bengal that is crucial and timely. No struggle for survival ever is non-political, it can be non-party.  

 

 

 

 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Damage to institution of Akal Takht symbolising Sikh sovereignty more important dimension of current crisis in Sikh domain

  Ideological Damage to Akal Takht most important dimension of Akali Crisis Ground Zero By Jagtar Singh The Sikh religio-political discourse entered a new phase on Baisakhi 2025 — the historic day on which Guru Gobind Singh, in 1699, created the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib, completing the ideological foundation laid by Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of the Sikh faith. Significant developments emerged from the well-attended Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) conference held at Takht Sri Damdama Sahib on April 13. It was the first major public appearance of Sukhbir Singh Badal since his re-election as party president on April 12, marking his return to the helm after a brief interregnum. Sukhbir, who first succeeded his father, Parkash Singh Badal, as party president in 2008, resumes leadership of a party long dominated by the Badal family—an influence that has spanned over three decades, the longest in the SAD’s history. For months, the religio-political landscape of Punjab has remained i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Akal Takht intervenes to reset Sikh religio-political discourse

  Akal Takht intervenes to reset Sikh religio-political discourse Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh, Dec 8: The Sikh religio-political domain has the tendency to dictate religio-political discourse of Punjab whose polity is different from other regions in the country. This is the state where a national dynamic minority is in majority. This minority was the third entity in all the political negotiations leading to India’s independence. What happened in Punjab on December 2 has to be reviewed in this backdrop as this development is going to have far-reaching impact not only on the future of the Shiromani Akali Dal but also the political tendencies at several levels. It is pertinent to mention at this stage itself that the Sikh religio-political discourse is presently affecting even India’s geo-politics, especially in the American sub-continent in the context of the activities of a section of the Sikh Diaspora. December 2 was unprecedented in the history of more than a c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Killing of Sidhu Moosewala is chilling reminder that all is not well with Punjab but not the time to indulge in blame game

  Something continues to be wrong with Punjab going by killing of Sidhu Moosewala Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   The killing of  Punjabi pop star Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu popular as Sidhu Moosewala is more than shocking. It has not only numbed Punjab but has triggered shock waves across the seas. The only inference that can be drawn from this tragic end of a young icon is that something is not right with Punjab, despite illusion created by degenerated political elite of so called normalcy. It is the system that has to return to normalcy. It has not. The unabated degeneration in the system at times tend to play havoc. This is not the time to play blame game. Rather this is the time to rise above parochial political interests. Punjab needs consensus to facilitate the return of this historically disturbed state and the injured psyche to return to normalcy. And it is not an easy task. What Punjab lacks at this juncture is a role model. After all, Punjab is not a state like any other...
Post a Comment
Read more