Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have caved in To the demands of the farmers to repeal the laws which they say threaten their livelihood.
But the reaction to the shock of a U-turn in India’s rural north, where Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faces crucial elections next year, has been less than positive, with people trying to maintain their grip on national politics. are. A worrying sign for the leader.
Farmer Guru Sevak Singh in Moharaniya village, about 500 km east of capital New Delhi in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, said he and others like him have lost faith in Modi and his party. Is.
“Today, Prime Minister Modi realized that he was committed to [a] There was a mistake, but it took them a year to recognize it and only because they now know that farmers will never vote for their party again.
For the young farmer, this matter is very personal.
Singh’s 19-year-old brother was Gurwinder killed In October, when a car attacked a crowd protesting the agricultural law, one in eight people died in violence related to a peasant uprising.
Thousands of agricultural workers have protested outside the capital New Delhi and outside the capital New Delhi for more than a year, fighting the pandemic, disrupting traffic and putting pressure on Modi and the BJP, who say the new laws will help. important for the modernization of the area.
“Today I can declare that my brother is a martyr,” Singh said. Reuters, crying as he held the picture of his dead brother.
“My brother is one of those brave farmers who laid down their lives to prove that the government was enforcing laws to destroy the agricultural economy,” he said.
Study: From the hinterland to Hollywood: how Indian farmers launched a protest movement
There were several police officers around him, which Singh said was provided to him after his brother and three others were killed in a car. Junior Home Minister Ajay’s son Ashish Mishra is in police custody in connection with the incident.
Ajay Mishra Teni said at the time that his son was not at the site and a car driven by “our driver” lost control and hit the farmers after “misguided” pelted stones and attacked them with sticks and swords. Gave. was killed.
‘How can we forget?’
Modi government in 2020 passed three agricultural laws To overhaul the agriculture sector, which employs about 60 percent of India’s workforce but is highly inefficient, is in debt and prone to pricing wars.
angry farmer took to the streetsSaying that the reforms put their jobs at risk and hand over control of crops and prices to private corporations.
The resulting protest movement became one of the largest and longest-running movements in the country.
Leaders of the six farmers’ unions, which led the agitation in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, said they would not forgive a government that branded protesting farmers as terrorists and anti-nationals.
“Farmers were beaten up with sticks, sticks and detained for demanding legitimate rights… Farmers were crushed by a speeding car of a minister’s family… Tell me how can we forget all this? Sudhakar Rai, a senior member of the farmers’ union in Uttar Pradesh, said.
At least 170 farmers were killed in protests against the anti-agriculture law across the country, Rai said. There is no official data to verify their claims.
A senior BJP member said on condition of anonymity that the decision to repeal the laws was taken by Modi after consulting an apex farmers’ union affiliated to his party.
On the party agreeing to back down, the politician present at the meeting said those present acknowledged that the BJP had failed to clearly adequately convey the benefits of the new laws.
Opposition leaders and some analysts said Modi’s move was linked to next year’s state elections in Uttar Pradesh, which has more parliamentary seats than any other state.
“What cannot be achieved with a democratic opposition can be achieved through the fear of impending elections!” Senior opposition Congress leader P. Chidambaram wrote on Twitter.
But farmers like Singh warned that the government could pay for the farmers’ treatment.
“We are the backbone of the country and Modi has today admitted that his policies were against farmers,” Singh said. “I have lost my brother in this mess and no one can bring him back.”