Let's end the impasse

The last year-and-a-half has been chaotic, to say the least. And the last six months… well, another story altogether, full of mayhem, worry, despair and death on an unimaginable scale. Amid the tumult and death race, the congregation of thousands upon thousands of farmers at Delhi's borders at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur is nothing short of a criminal act by both parties involved in the standoff. The Government and the farmers, predominantly from the North Indian states of Punjab, Haryana and Western UP, simply have to thrash out a solution. These are not times to have an impasse of this magnitude or duration, and certainly not a period for either side to flex muscle or indulge in a macabre sport to ascertain whose ego is bigger.

Another aspect that needs to be visited is that India is becoming a mockery in the eyes of the rest of the world, with even distant Governments and media houses saying their piece and sharing their wisdom with the world; and their words and judgment are anything but kind to our country. There has been enough international criticism of India's handling of the pandemic, the holding of assembly elections and religious gatherings involving hundreds of thousands of people in close proximity at a time as grave as this. Let's not feed the global beast any more fodder – to chew on and get the energy to besmirch us some more. This is not just about India's image and standing, but also about business and investments, and international Corporate presence in the country.

And let's not forget the human factor – thousands of farmer families have now been torn apart for months, emotionally and financially-weakened, with those back at home desperately worried about those at the borders, and vice versa.

Kindness at the borders

Luckily for all concerned, the Coronavirus outbreak has not been too deadly at the borders, and nowhere near the explosive rate it has assumed in most parts of the country, especially now in rural India. For some reason, it left those camped on the borders completely untouched till the latest and highly virulent new wave hit home. For months after the agitation began, hardly any cases of COVID-19 were reported amongst the farmers and their supporters. It is only now that cases are being reported amongst the agitators, and it is a wake-up call for everyone concerned, the Government and farmers alike.

Remember, how the agitation works is that apart from the very old and / or very hardened agitators, most others are agitating on a 'rotational' basis, which means they stay at the borders for a week or two, then head back home for a week, with returning others taking their place. But the returnees take their place on the borders, many have brought with them the dreaded virus. And worse, the next batch will bring in some more, and a deadly cycle is coming into play – that's the only scientific explanation for the sudden surge in numbers. In such a time, this constant to and fro movement is akin to asking for trouble.

Sardars to the rescue

Even through the agitation, farmers (especially from Punjab), have continued to show their largesse, especially through the vicious new wave, setting up oxygen and medicine langars at a time when most others were resorting to black-marketing of these life-saving commodities. I remember a previous column, 'Somehow a Sardar can'. Oh, he most certainly can. But to do so while simultaneously fighting an unmoving Government and an unseen virus that is ravaging their folk back in the villages is indeed commendable and praiseworthy. If for nothing else, it is for this medical and humanitarian assistance over the last couple of months alone that I beseech the Government to take a relook at the farmers' demands and look at them, with a softer eye and a kindlier approach.

In early March, the Sikh community set up a Kidney Dialysis Hospital at Delhi's Gurdwara Bala Sahib. The facility has since been teeming with people to anyone needing free dialysis treatment. What's more, the 100-bed dialysis centre in Sarai Kale Khan is being touted as India's biggest such facility. Crunch some numbers here – with each dialysis session using up consumables of around Rs 2,000, the average daily running cost of the center is around Rs 50 lakh. But response in terms of donations, from both Sikhs and non-Sikhs, has been overwhelming.

On their part, the farmers too need to see the wood for the trees. In today's scheme of things –with a raging pandemic, the harvesting and sowing season, a crumbling economy and an 18-month truce on offer – the agitators should consider the Government's olive branch more wisely. They can always recoup again later, if the situation so demands. After all, a bird in hand is… and so on.

All but forgotten

Surprisingly, if not for the noise by the farmers on May 26, 2021, when the agitation turned six months old, news coverage on the farmer protests has been feeble and near non-existent over the last few months. Admittedly, this is due to the frenzy surrounding the assembly elections in four states and the Union Territory of Puducherry, and because the fag end of the polling and rallying saw the new wave of the pandemic take on such a vicious and scary turn that everything else shrunk in news value, be it the farmers protest, the IPL or the debilitated state of the Indian economy.

Another key reason for lack of much being written about the agitation at the Capital's borders is that, well, the authorities have written the farmers off. There has been absolutely no word from the Government on next steps, if any, to resolve the matter. Similarly, apart from holding a few, sundry press briefings with social media news channels at the borders, the farmers themselves have been quite tightlipped and quiet for a while now, perhaps in part because while the borders have been thankfully spared of any freakish outbreak of wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the farmers are nonetheless having to deal with a frightening spread of the disease back home in their villages. Their attention has obviously been diverted to an extent.

And as is clear from the stand taken by the Government and farmers over the last six months – especially after January 26, 2021, when some mischief-mongers indulged in their shenanigans at the historic Red Fort in the Capital – both sides are now waiting to see who blinks first. Or, to provide a corollary, both sides have their eyes shut so tight on the issue that an entire country is waiting to see who eventually opens theirs.

Enter the Supreme Court

The highest court of law in the land, the Hon'ble Supreme Court, did bring in some semblance of calm on January 12, 2021, when it put on hold the three contentious farm laws that are at the root of the agitation. While the protesting farmers insist that these laws will make them lose their land(s) and make them laborers in their own fields, the Government has also stood fast that the new laws will only further open up agriculture to the free market, providing the farm community with greater flexibility and incomes.

The apex court stayed the implementation of the laws "until further notice" and appointed an independent committee to broker a deal between the farmers and the Government. However, farmer groups have repeatedly said they will settle for nothing less than a repeal of all three laws and an implementation of the MSP (Minimum Selling Price) regime for all staple crops. In turn, the Government has categorically ruled out any rollback, though subsequently, it did offer to put the laws in cold storage for a period of 18 months, after which the two sides could parley and reach some kind of settlement to end the imbroglio.

In light of the pandemic and its scurrilous nature of late, perhaps an 18-month ceasefire could be the answer, for now. We have to accept the fact that the meteoric and scary rise of the pandemic's toll in this new wave has largely been due to the laxity of our people. As soon as state governments switched to 'Unlock Mode', India went crazy, as if the pandemic was over. Sure, to give the people some leeway, our foremost leaders did announce victory over the pandemic, perhaps childishly and certainly prematurely.

The need of the hour, then, is to reach a common ground and face off the deadlier enemy first. When that battle is won, perhaps the sheer elation of that success itself would see both sides get into a softer huddle, with a well-earned smile on their faces, and put a permanent end to this long-drawn confrontation.

The author is a communications consultant and a clinical analyst. [email protected] Views expressed are personal