THE PRICE OF PROTEST IS DEATH
Since elected to power in 2014, anti-minorities–Muslims, Christians and Sikhs– sentiments have heightened to a warpath under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Drawing on several examples during a nine year despotic rule of Modi’s government, communal polarisation, spewed hatred and violence, corruption, muzzling dissenting voices through coercion, crackdown to purge minorities in and around the world, and vicious attack on right of working class – such as farmers – effectively expose murder of democracy and dominance of fascist regime in India.
The article delves into Modi’s government draconian measures to subjugate farmers in the light of ongoing Farmers protests in India.
In India agriculture sector employs about half the workforce and accounts for 15% of GDP of India’s $ 3.7 trillion economy. Over 40% of India’s 1.4 billion people are dependent on agriculture. But farmer’s contribution in India have come at price under Modi’s regime.
The agriculture sector has declined at an average of approximately 3.5%, compared to over 6% growth before BJP’s rule. In addition, India’s economic backbone – its farmers and their families – is in collapse and suffering immensely economically, mentally and emotionally.
Further, the farmers have been facing dwindling incomes combined with increased debts. Farm lending has gone up by three times during the last nine years to nearly 20 trillion rupees, according to the central bank. More than half of India’s 93 million farm households are in deep debt, with an average of a USD 900 loan for each of the households, according to government estimates.
The increased debts has resulted in epidemic of farmer’s suicide in India. According to Gunisha Kaur, Human Rights Impact Lab Co- Medical director, in India over 30 people in the farming sector die by suicide daily. According to government data, in 2020, more than 10,000 people in the agricultural sector ended their own lives.
It is worth to mention here that Punjab state “the bread basket of India,” is home to over 60% of Sikh population, a minority in India. To raise their legitimate concerns, farmers from Punjab launched nationwide, peaceful protests in 2020-21 against Modi’s implemented three controversial farm laws. The peaceful protests turned violent afterwards the government intensified crackdown against the farmers.Consequently, more than 700 peaceful farmers lost their lives.
In hypocritical move to pacify the farmers, Modi made empty promises and announced to repeal the laws and agreed to address farmers 12 demands including the legal guarantee of minimum support Price (MSP) for all crops, loan waivers and others.
In distress, on13 February 2024, over 200 farmers’ unions announced participating in the ‘Dilli Chalo’( Let’s got to Dehli) march raising twelve demands including the legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for all crops which the Government had promised in 2021. The ensuing farmer’s protests are offshoot of 2020 farmers’ protests which took the Indian capital, by storm.
The Indian government has deployed military and para- military forces, laid out rows of metal spikes, concrete and barbed wires, on the highways, in the Delhi neighbouring states to block farmer’s carvans from reaching Delhi. On 20 February, in Haryana state (200 km) from Delhi, Shubhkaran Singh, 22 years old youth died of a head injury by Indian forces. Since then, killing of 10 farmers including 177 farmers and activist injuries through brutal means have been reported by the Indian media, since start of “Delli Chalo march.”
In another attempt to muzzle dissenting voices through coercion, the BJP’s government suspended mobile services in Delhi’s neighboring states and issued executive orders to take down certain Social Media accounts and posts of Farmers on X, formerly twitter.
“We will withhold these accounts and posts in India alone; however, we disagree with these actions and maintain that freedom of expression should extend to these posts,” X’s Global Government Affairs team said in a post, without naming the accounts.
This isn’t the first time that the X, complied with Indian government orders. During 2020- 2021 Farmers Protests, X got executive orders form the BJP’s government to block 1700 accounts of farmers critical of the BJP’s suppressing policies.
In April 2023, Elon Musk, the X owner, also agreed that the company could not go beyond the Indian “strict laws” while saying, “being compliant with India’s laws is better than having employees go to jail.”
In conclusion, in response the death of Shubhkaran Singh during Dilli Chalo’ Farmers’ march, Amnesty International Chair in India Aakar Patel castigated Indian government and said, “The price of protest must not be death.” But in reality, the continued deaths of participants of Dilli Chalo’ march till date, compounded by killings of thousands of innocent unarmed minorities during Modi’s ruthless 9 years rule, effectively endorse that the price of protest in India is only death.