By AlignIndia Editors
The Minister of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare in the Union Government, Narendra Singh Tomar, published a letter to his farmer brothers and sisters on 17 December 2020. The letter begins quite inauspiciously, asserting that many farmers and allied organizations have told him they are delighted with the three laws his government passed recently, and that a “few” farmer associations are spreading canards about the laws. He goes on to express concern that there is a “conspiracy” underlying the protests near Delhi and surrounding regions.
Tomar’s letter asserts that he comes from a farming family. This association with agriculture failed in prompting him to object when the BJP’s Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar branded some of the agitating farmers as “Khalistani separatists”. Neither did he distance himself from BJP IT Cell chief, Amit Malviya’s charge that the protests are “Khalistani-Maoist”. When his cabinet colleague, Raosaheb Danve, alleged that China and Pakistan are behind these protests, Tomar did not find it in himself to discredit unsubstantiated hypotheses.
Tomar lists what he calls falsehoods and presents the “truth” in his letter. What he thinks the farmers’ claims are include
- The MSP system will cease and APMC’s Mandis will be closed
- Farmers’ landholdings are in danger, Contractors can seize property in lieu of dues pending from farmers to contractors and Farmers will not be paid
- Contract Farming does not guarantee prices and contracts cannot be terminated by farmers
- Contract farming has never been attempted and there were absolutely no consultations prior to the legislations
At best, he misses the woods for the trees. At worst, this is classic disinformation: reframing the broad concern as a set of specific distorted details. The cynical tactician then responds to these “lies” to shift attention from the overarching issue. While one can easily address the infirmities in his distortion of the farmers’ claims, we believe Tomar should be focused on the core issue.
Here are some relevant questions Tomar could answer. In passing, he might also tell us why his pain at farmers being “mis-informed” is greater than that of the families of 41 farmers who lost their lives since the protests commenced.
If as Tomar’s letter claims the BJP has enhanced the lives and livelihoods of farmers significantly, why are farmers unwilling to discuss these issues without protesting? Are his repeated references to the farmers being misled an attempt to call them gullible and with no agency?
Can Tomar explain why farmer protests rose by 700% in the first two years of the Modi government? Who were they protesting against, the Opposition? If the BJP was as benevolent as he describes in his letter, why did Mandsaur farmers agitate in Tomar’s home state, Madhya Pradesh in 2017? Why did police open fire on the farmers resulting in six deaths and why were protests continuing one year later?
If in the BJP’s view, students, Dalits, women, minorities and now farmers – in other words a majority of the country – are all misled, why do they suddenly become valuable citizens when electoral campaigns commence? Can he explain why Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned and the Shiromani Akali Dal quit the NDA over the bills?
If the BJP government values farmers as much as Tomar says it does, why is it pitching farmers against soldiers? Why does it question the patriotism of the farmers whose contributions are just as vital to the nation as the soldiers’?
Which of these initiatives by Tomar’s government help the farmers the most?
- Ban on export of onions
- Limiting the power of states to give bonuses over MSP
- High premiums paid to insurance companies for a fraudulent PM Fasal Bima Yojna
- 6.66 Lakh Crores of loan write-offs since 2015, 80% borrowed by corporates
What stops the government from making the Minimum Support Price mandatory by law? Why is the phrase not mentioned even once in the three bills it created? If the government offers written “assurances” on MSP, will they be binding in law?
Will the government calculate MSP at 1.5 times of C2 as promised in BJP manifestos?
If contract farming is as smooth as Tomar claims, why do the bills prevent the farmers from approaching civil courts to settle disputes?
Why does Tomar’s letter claim that the Opposition “misleading” farmers did not support the country during the 1962 war? Did his history books teach him that it was the Jan Sangh, the fore-runner of the BJP, which led India and fought the war against China? Was it the Jan Sangh that subsequently drove back Pakistan in 1965, China in 1967 and wrested freedom for Bangladesh? Or was it the Indian National Congress (INC), which is now in the Opposition?
Speaking of ideological forebears, Tomar’s letter alludes to Mahatma Gandhi’s Champaran satyagraha. We understand his dilemma – he cannot point to a single action for farmers in colonial India by the RSS, Hindu Mahasabha or other affiliates of the Sangh Parivar which gave birth to the BJP. He is forced to appropriate an icon of the INC to vilify the INC. Why does Tomar’s party revere staunch opponents of the Mahatma, Savarkar and Golwalkar, or his leaders praise the Mahatma’s assassin and dismiss Gandhiji’s secular principles as minority appeasement?
The nation has come to realize that lying is a practice that springs naturally in the BJP leadership. It is nevertheless distressing that it can pack as many “alternate facts” into one communication as Tomar’s does –
| BJP PROPAGANDA | THE REALITY |
|---|---|
| MSP is available in the Bills | The Bills do not mention MSP at all. |
| NDA has provided more MSP than the UPA | MSP growth rates under UPA were in double digits. The growth has fallen to single digits under NDA. |
| Corporates will not control agricultural sector | The entire rationale for the bills is the privatization of agricultural trade. If corporates are in charge of contracts, supply chains, wholesale and retail prices, what should it be seen as but control? |
| Government will invest in support infrastructure for agriculture | The government has repeatedly not met infrastructure investment targets. The fall in APMC fee revenues makes it even harder to find the money for roads, irrigation and power. |
| Farmers can seek legal remedies if contracts are breached | The bills bar local courts from adjudicating disputes, relying instead on civil servants. |
Narendra Tomar and his namesake should take some time off to recover from their pain due to the farmers’ protests. Their absence in governance might permit better sense to prevail and others to redress farmers’ concerns. It will have an added benefit – the seeds of division, disharmony and bigotry they sowed for the last six years from positions of power might yet not sprout.