United Opposition urges President Kovind to support farmers, persuade govt

From Shiv Sena to Shiromani Akali Dal, every malcontent that has any grievance against the government banded together to assure protesting farmers of their support as the government assessed its options in dealing with the second phase of the agitation after the farmers turned down assurances on minimum support price and other farm issues. 

“All our adversaries have been brought on one stage, because of these Bills,” said a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.

The agitating farmers and the government are now locked in a classical stand-off, both adopting maximalist positions, with even the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated farm bodies unable to break the logjam.

Till early in the day, government representatives said they were hopeful the problem would be resolved.

“This (ongoing negotiations) is a work in progress. Hopefully, in the last stage. Let us wait for some more time," Information minister Prakash Javadekar said earlier in the day. 

When it became clear that the farmers had rejected the government’s offer, Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar rushed to Home Minister Amit Shah’s residence and was closeted in a meeting there.

The government will have to carry out an intricate and adroit balancing exercise. Politics will force it to be restrained in dealing with the farmers, leaving it hamstrung in resorting to traditional coercive measures like using teargas and firing to dislodge the agitating farmers who have pledged to block every arterial road leading to Delhi. They will block the Delhi-Jaipur highway on December 12 and nationwide dharnas will be called on December 14.

A delegation of Opposition parties, including Rahul Gandhi from the Congress, Sharad Pawar from the Nationalist Congress Party, Sitaram Yechury from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), D Raja from the Communist Party of India, and T K S Elangovan from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, met President Ram Nath Kovind to urge him to persuade the government to yield to the demands of protesting farmers and repeal the three farm Bills, which, incidentally, the President has already given assent to, making them law.

This is the second meeting of Opposition leaders on these Bills - the first one being in September, when they urged the President to counsel the government to withdraw the Bills and return them without signing them.

“Keep at it” was the advice Congress leader Jairam Ramesh gave to farmers. Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Digvijaya Singh had already expressed public pessimism at the outcome of a meeting with the President, saying it would yield little. Singh said the Bills should be examined by a joint parliamentary committee (JPC). 

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi should put aside his stubbornness. It is a matter concerning farmers. Such stubbornness is not right for anyone. All three laws should be repealed. JPC should be formed. That will find a solution after talking to farmers," said Singh.

Speaking to reporters after the Rashtrapati Bhavan meeting, Rahul and Yechury said the government should revisit the laws. 

“We sought repeal of farm laws during a meeting with President Kovind. The laws were passed without any discussion in the House,”said Rahul, adding, “We informed the President that it is absolutely critical these anti-farmer laws are taken back.”

However, the delegation that met the President was a divided Opposition: Trinamool Congress, while supporting the farmers, declined to join the delegation, citing the presence of Left parties on it.

The BJP interpreted the outcome of the local elections in Rajasthan (which were won by the BJP) as endorsement of the farm Bills. This however, got little traction among agitating farmers, who insist their protest is not a political one and is limited to issues relating to agriculture.

The situation in the national Capital is going to become fraught in the days to come and the more the BJP tries to portray the agitation as one being run by political forces opposed to it, the more the farmers will insist their cause is just and right and has nothing to do with politics. 

The government is expected to pick and choose groups from among the protesting farmers to break the agitation. While this ploy might have worked some days ago, it is hard to see how any group will break away to endorse the government’s position without losing its own credibility.