It would sound curious that the unions of farmers have called a Bharat Bandh on Tuesday even as their discussions with the government on the contentious aspects of the farm reforms legislation are continuing, not stalled or halted. While the farmers’ unions have claimed they are apolitical and issues were more important to them, the week-long agitation is acquiring a political colour.
Admirable is the fact that the farmer leaders are holding this agitation in a peaceful manner for the past several days. If farmers have problems, their unions have all the freedom to take it up and make every lawful effort to get them solved. At the same time, if the agitation acquires a political colour, that will be to the disadvantage of the farmers.
Notably, over 50 unions of transport operators too have jumped into the fray and announced they would participate in the Bharat Bandh in a fraternal spirit for a brotherly cause. This would ensure that the nation will be paralysed for the duration of the bandh. To add steam to the anti-government campaign, the Congress, the Left and the TRS too have expressed their support to the bandh call. More opposition parties are bound to join the pro-farmer protests and hold the government to ransom.
The farmer unions are set to continue their talks with the government on Wednesday. The government has made it clear it has an open mind and is ready to accommodate the genuine grievances, if any, as regards the farm reforms. This is the right spirit on condition that the government is sincere in this commitment. These are difficult times for the nation. The past eight months of the Covid sweep of the nation, as also the world, has turned the economy upside down. So many man-days have been lost due to the shutdown of the nation and the iterations of lockdowns that followed.
It is worth considering whether a Bharat Bandh, or more such protests in the coming days that will further hit the national economy, is advisable. Farmers are already proving a point by the blockade they effected on capital Delhi in the past several days. The railway freight services were also affected in the northern region, costing the Railways hefty sums, because of this blockade.
On the positive side, the Modi government is handling the situation with patience. Yet, a long drawn-out agitation of this kind is bound to cause hardships to the nation. It is important that all sides conduct themselves more responsibly; more so in these days of Covid pandemic.