Seeds of discontent

The onus of bridging the trust deficit with farmers lies with the govt

The massive Mahapanchayat organised by the agitating farmers at Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh earlier this week to press their demands for repealing the three recently enacted farm laws has managed to send out some important messages. These, if heeded by the government, can help it to recast its strategy to deal with the contentious farm issues. For one, it has shown that the government’s game plan to tire out the agitating farmers is unlikely to succeed. The farm leaders, on the contrary, have announced plans to extend the movement to other parts of the country, beyond the north-western Jat belt.