Red Fort was under siege; armed protestors marched in and hoisted
Sikh flag from the very mast used by Prime Ministers to unfurls Tiranga on the eve
of every Independence Day. Desecration of the national flag on a day as
sacrosanct as the Republic Day has left the nation aghast. While violent mobs
unleashed mayhem, anarchy at the historic national monument, people of the
country watched helplessly.
Even before the nation could savour the much-awaited Republic
Day parade that included a display of the cache of indigenous weaponry, march
by the Bangladeshi contingent, the Rafale flyby and the cultural extravaganza,
reports of the planned tractor rally going amok began to pour in. In violation
of the 36 points which were in principle agreed upon by the farmers
organisations, tractors began to break the barricades. The protestors deviated
from the original plan and resorted to unprecedented violence. Around 200
artists who performed at the Republic Day were holed up in the Red Fort
listlessly witnessed the rampage before police could rescue them from the
mobsters.
Brandishing arms, vandalising public property and police
stations, the protestors have brazenly unleashed anarchy. At several places,
police were outnumbered by the protestors and tractors were deliberately run
into them. The chaotic scenes and fierce stone pelting removed every iota of doubt
about the legitimate intentions of the protestors. But the Police exercised extreme
restraint as use of force by the state would have provided the so- called
protestors the much-needed political mileage to advance their movement.
Orgy of the violence which has descended on the national
capital reminded the entire country of the February 2020, North- East Delhi
riots. Eventually, the common harbinger of the two events that ravaged the
capital city have been the ‘so called peaceful protests’. In less than a year,
two peaceful protests that held the capital to ransom have snowballed into
riots causing grave threat to safety and security of the people. Incidentally,
with the stalwarts and the protagonists of these protests being the same,
dissent in the form of peaceful protests is now being viewed with suspicion.
People are now questioning the naivete of authorities in
granting permission to a tractor rally on a Republic Day and the prudence of
the Supreme Court, in overruling the genuine concerns of the Attorney General pertaining
to infiltration of the protests by anti-social elements. Like the much-touted
peaceful protest, Shaheen Bagh, which has become a front for the extremists,
radical groups and the secessionists, the current episode of peaceful protests
also brought the capital to its knees. The farmers protests brought economic
activity to grinding halt resulting in losses of Rs 3500 crore per day received
the needed propaganda support from the dishonest media which amplified the fake
news.
Alleging the government to be majoritarian and accusing it to
be resolute, farmers organisations levelled untenable charges against the
government despite government numerous outreach efforts and eleven rounds of
meetings. In response to the legitimate
concerns raised by the farmers, government made relevant amendments. Government
even accepted Supreme Court’s verdict of staying the implementation of the farm
laws until further order and agreed to the proposal of constituting a team of
four experts to break the dead-lock. Bending over backwards, government offered
to suspend the laws for eighteen months. But Farmers organisations rejected the
expert committee proposal, suspension of laws and refused to budge for anything
less than the total repeal of the farm laws.
Bargaining from a maximalist position, farmers indeed
remained adamant and blatantly rejected a middle path. Under the guise of the
protest, farmers vandalised the telecom infrastructure across the state of
Punjab. State Government’s pliant approach and dearth of stringent punishment
emboldened them. Touted as game changer, akin to second green revolution,
despite the firm endorsement from economists, farmers organisations, firmly
rejected the new laws.
India’s opposition when in power, supported them, fearing
backlash failed to legislate the new farm laws. But now, unable to trounce the
ruling party electorally, inundated by ‘un-electables’, co-opted these protests
to extract political revenge. Debased by repeated electoral drubbing,
rudderless political parties began using these protestors as tools to create
unrest in the country to advance their agenda. Though Expert committee reports
indicated that mere 6% of farmers are beneficiaries of MSPs labelling the
agriculture laws as anti-farmers, opposition parties ran a massive subversive
campaign. Political desperation was written all over the colossal U-turn of
major opposition parties.
Enamoured by this overwhelming support, protestors dug in
their heels in the capital. Ironically, despite the reports and concerns raised
by the intelligence agencies, farmers were allowed to hold the tractor rally.
Red Fort was breached.
The template and course of action of peaceful protests is
becoming more predictable now. Given the precarious state of law & order
situation, it is expected that government learns from the past experiences. Previously,
by giving long rope to protestors and precluding use of force, intelligence
agencies uncovered external financial sources and extricated the intricate web
of the protestors and subsequently exposed the malevolent intentions of the
protestors. The government has come clean.
Acting at the behest of the vested interests, as expected,
protestors in the past and now have brazened it out and unravelled themselves
completely. With this the hypocrisy, double-speak of the cabal, the hand maiden
of the break India forces has been completely shattered. In this long winding
process the government has put law and order machinery under extreme rigour.
Outnumbered and over powered, forced to exercise restraint, Police and common
man are finding themselves at the receiving end.
Peaceful protests by nature are derailing the local
governance machinery and consequently people are enduring a gruelling ordeal. They
are disenchanted by the repeated episodes of trials and tribulations and
growing weary of government’s apathy and inaction.
It is no secret that civil societies, break-India forces,
radicals are taking cover of protestors to disrupt the country and derail
government programs. At this juncture, faced with the daunting challenge of
resurrecting the COVID-hit economy, can government afford to reinvent the wheel
and adopt a ham-handed approach towards repeat protest episodes which is in contravention
to its development agenda?
With a reputation of inflicting a devastating blow to enemies
that crossed redlines, government’s dilly-dallying approach to deal internal
enemies is rather intriguing. Government’s complacency towards the inimical
peaceful protests can be counterproductive to its developmental agenda and
eventually dent its trust factor among people (NCR residents).
By hoisting a flag above the Tiranga, protestors breached the
dignity and decorum and the founding principles of constitution of India. To
begin with, the protests were never about farmers, the unprecedented anarchy
manifested by tumultuous tractor has divested protests of any iota of
credibility. Political parties distanced themselves and farmers organisations
abdicated responsibility after tractor rally went haywire suggesting that they
were no one’s protests. Disruption has been the agenda. It is time government
stops treating these anti-nationals with kids gloves.
“there is nothing wrong with making mistakes, but one
should always make new ones. Repeating mistakes is hallmark of dull
consciousness”- Dave Simon.
#saynotopeacefulprotests.
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