Sedition case against protesting farmers in Haryana is
desecration of democracy
Ground Zero
Jagtar Singh
Sedition law is legacy of the colonial rule that was introduced
by the British to crush democratic aspirations and struggle for freedom of the people
living in this region.
The British rulers left the partitioned Indian sub-continent
in 1947 but the new rulers- our own- have continued with that draconian law
that should have no place in a modern and world’s biggest democracy going by the
size of population.
The problem is that those entrusted with running the affairs
of the country at every level rather than being the public servants continue to
behave as the rulers and by implication, those being ruled over are subjects,
not equal citizens.
This amounts to desecration of democracy.
Such is the attitude of the rulers is that even ordinary
protest is charged under sedition at times.
As per the report in The Indian Express of July 14, the Sirsa police have registered FIR against
100-150 farmer protesters under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code
including Section 124 A (Sedition).
The Crime?
They were protesting on Sunday against Deputy Speaker Ranbir Gangwa.
It may be mentioned that the agitating farmers are not
allowing the ruling BJP and JJP leaders to hold functions or enter villages in
Haryana.
In Punjab, a campaign has been launched by the farmers
against entry of political leaders of every party in the villages.
The farmers have been protesting against the three farm laws
thrust on them by the Modi government last year. Thousands of farmers have been
camping at three places on the outskirts of Delhi blocking three national
highways since November 26 last.
The protest is unprecedented and has attracted global
attention.
The protest is no more just for scrapping the three laws
that are perceived to spell doom for the farmers by introducing corporate
farming, but has the potential to dictate the development model at the global
level. The market model of development is anti-people and resulted in widening
disparities.
The farmer struggle is being commanded by the farmers of
Punjab and Haryana, agriculturally the two most advanced states, who are going
to be the most adversely hit.
The issue here, however, is the law of sedition.
Even the framers of this draconian law did not use it so
brazenly as the native rulers.
How come that the protest by the farmers be sedition? Even
if one concedes that there might have been some stray cases of violence, the
same would have been dealt with under the criminal law.
The problem is there is no difference between one party or
the other when in power so far as the application of sedition law is concerned.
Such is the attitude of the rulers that this law has been applied even against the students voicing
their concerns in the educational institutions.
The irony is that even more than seven decades after India
attained freedom, this country continues to be colonial democracy not just by
way of retention of laws like sedition but also the style of governance.
The problem is that every ruling party has tried to introduce
more and more anti-people and draconian laws under the garb of confronting what
is called terrorism. Punjab has been witnessing killings by the police in fake encounters since 1970.
The people at large are just indifferent to this style of
governance. The people in the Indian subcontinent have been ruled upon by
others over centuries and this has impacted the attitude.
Of course, there always have been voices of dissent and
revolt.
One must read the commentary of Bhagat Singh (Shaheed) after
six Babbar activists were hanged in Lahore jail to grasp the mentality of the
people. There is little change over the years.
Can the scrapping of the laws like sedition and UAPA become the
agenda in 2024 Lok Sabha election?
Time to turn India’s democracy pro-people.
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