Once again, the government of India has failed to respect democratic temper.  Continuing with their tactics of delaying ac

ceptance of the genuine demands of far

mers to repeal the farm laws enacted in June 2020, government of India has,  once again,  engaged the agitating farmers  in an exercise in futility.

It reminds me of a famous dialogue from a Hindi movie where a lawyer blasts the judicial system in the country  which instead of judging a case, goes on giving  adjournments. The dialogue “Tareekh pe tareekh” appropriately describes the policy of the present central government in India who, instead of clinching the issue, keep on prolonging “dialogue”.

Government of India is not bothered how much suffering its intransigence is causing, not only to agitating farmers, but also to a vast majority of people of India. Not only the government is endangering the lives of protesting farmers who are exposed to cold, and worse still, the monster COVID-19, but also causing severe hardship to the common people whohave to suffer because of the bandhs.

It is quite clear that government, as usual, believes the agitators will get tired and will turn against their leaders spearheading the struggle for securing justice for the farming community, and also for the consumers of farm products across the country. It is well known how government of India is well versed in the art of dividing people. One can discern it in their characterization of the struggle as a Sikh or Punjabi struggle which is so untrue. It is a struggle of all farmers regardless of  their faith. Again, government is trying to project it as a struggle of a people of a region- Punjab. A blatant lie. It is a struggle of farmers of all regions in India.

We  know the farmers’ leaders leading the struggle are a mature people. But they must be reminded that they must not fall to the machinations of the government, which is hell bent on failing the people’s movement , the like of which no government has witnessed in more than half a century, since the movement under Jai Prakash Narayan during Indira Gandhi’s emergency days. It is a test of democracy in India.

It should remind this government which is so insensitive to the people of the country that no government is strong enough to face the onslaught of  the collective power of a united people.

Hope, better sense will prevail with the  government of India before it is too late.