Better late than never. The Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab has finally woken up and stood up against the “organised blackmail” going on for the last one year that has not only derailed the road and rail traffic, but also destroyed the economy of the state.
It has nearly been 13 months now that the National Highway 44, the “economic lifeline” of Punjab, has been blocked at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders by people who claim to be farm activists fighting for farmers’ rights. They have blocked both the entry points to Punjab from Delhi.
There is a difference between a “democratic protest” and an “organised blackmail”. The entire state and its people have been held to ransom for over one year now. The industry and trade have been damaged to an extent that it may take years to recover.
For the Punjab industry and trade, first it was COVID, followed by a year-long blockade outside the Delhi borders and now within two years, another blockade.
There has been considerable resentment among the masses against the continuous blockade by “farm activists”.
The farmers are demanding legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) for various crops, besides fixing the MSP on the recommendations of the Swaminathan formula.
Both these issues are within the ambit of the Central government. The state government cannot do anything about it. Nor can the masses, who are held to ransom every day, do anything.
Imagine the plight of people who have to meet deadlines, critical patients being rushed for medical aid, even those carrying the dead bodies of near and dear ones from one place to another to reach their destination in time for last rites. All these people have to take a detour through small lanes and by-lanes of villages and small hamlets, with the greatest chance of their vehicles getting stuck.
Compared to this, those staging “protests” have set up semi-permanent settlements at protest sites, both at Shambhu and Khanuri borders. These settlements have all the facilities of heating arrangement during winters, air-conditioners during summers and regular supply of drinking water. There is no dearth of ration, which comes in tons and tons besides donations in cash, which are never accounted for in the name of “farmers’ struggle”.
There is also a financial angle to the protests. During the Delhi “cordon off” by the protesting farmers, the organisers made a fortune with humongous donations from people from all walks of life at home and from abroad.
As it turned out to be a good money-minting “business”, the organisers could not resist continuing it with one excuse or the other. For the “protesters”, blocking roads does not come at any cost. Rather, it comes with an incentive; more specifically financial incentive. In the process, they have ended up ruining Punjab’s economy.
The protesters have turned so audacious that they bluntly refused to cancel their protests of laying siege on Chandigarh when Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann requested for it during his meeting with them on Monday.
Feeling upset, Mann walked out saying there was no use of holding the meeting when they had already decided to go ahead with the Chandigarh protest. He had a genuine point.
The “farm activists” have tasted blood. They had made a fortune out of the “Delhi siege” as they forced the Central government to withdraw three farm laws. Not only that, they made a huge fortune out of the protests with liberal donations from across the world.
With such strong incentives without any risk or price, the “farm activists” have further got emboldened taking everything, including the law and public support, for granted.
It has taken a long time for the people in general and the government in particular to realise and understand that those staging “protests” had more reasons than meet the eye.
The Punjab government’s stringent crackdown against those instigating and provoking people to protest has widely been hailed across Punjab. People are fed up with daily road and rail blockades.
Having detained several “farm activists”, the state government must invoke relevant sections of the law against them. All of them must be held accountable for the huge losses suffered by the trade and industry, besides the hassles and harassment common public has been facing for the last 13 months.
Opposition political parties, including the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party will do well by not making political capital out of the government’s action against the “protesting” farm activists.
Supporting the genuine cause of farmers is one thing, supporting them for everything they do, like blocking roads and rails, is unacceptable. The opposition parties will get many chances to criticise the government. On this issue, at least, they must not oppose the government by siding with the “protesting farm activists”, who have not only held the state to ransom, but have destroyed the trade and economy, besides causing immense harassment to the common public.
Punjab is at the risk of turning into West Bengal, if it has not already, thanks to the day-to-day protests and dharnas by “perpetually aggrieved farm activists”.
The way trade unions destroyed industry and trade in Bengal in the 1970s and 1980s under Communist regime, the “farm activists” are trying to do the same thing with Punjab. Not surprisingly, all of them have Communist/ Leftist roots, linkages and inclinations.
There was a time when the farmers were even addressed as “annadata”, elevating them to the status of a demigods. This epithet is used by the opposition political parties even now, obviously to appease them. Even the AAP pampered and appeased them the same way, like the opposition does it now, when it was in opposition in Punjab.
Public sentiment about the stir was probably summed up best, albeit in a subtle way, by KBS Sidhu, former chief secretary, Punjab, and an ace analyst and commentator, saying, “We salute the toil and labour of the farmers, whose hard work sustains many. Their dedication to the land and agriculture is invaluable. The Central and state governments must consider and concede the farmers’ legitimate demands, ensuring justice and fairness for those who work tirelessly to feed the nation”.
At the same time, he cautioned, “it is important to recognise that only true ‘anndata’ is God (Akal Purakh). No human cultivator should ideally be described as ‘anndata’, especially if he is selling his produce rather than giving it freely to the poor and hungry as charity.”
“Even the Guru-ka-Langar, where food is served free of cost to all, without discrimination based on faith or gender, does not arrogate to itself the epithet of ‘anndata’, he pointed out.
This is the time to bring order in Punjab and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has made a brave move, by calling spade a spade. There has been enough tolerance to the “organised blackmail” in the name of “farmers’ struggle”. There must be an end to such blackmail. Good that the Punjab Chief Minister has eventually decided to take the bull by its horns. And he definitely has a lot of public support for this action and deservingly so.
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