Farm Laws Repealed, Will The Protest End??

On the pious occasion of the Guru Purab festival, Guru Nanak’s birthday the Sikhism founder, the centre government of BJP announced that the three farm laws are repealed. The prime minister of India Shri. Narendra Modi addressed the nation and announced that the three farm laws which came into play last year faced opposition from the farmers, despite numerous talks and debates with farmers, certain sections of the farmers are not in favour of these laws. These farmers have been protesting since November 26, 2020.

PM Modi said, “maybe something was lacking in our tapasya, which is why we could not convince farmers about the laws. But today is Prakash Parv, not the time to blame anyone. Today, I want to tell the country that we have decided to repeal the farm laws.”

As soon as the news came in, the farmers protesting on the borders of Delhi sensed a feeling of relief and hope. They are still on the site of protest and dwelling. In the midst of great news the opposition parties are still questioning the motive behind the step taken by the central government. As very soon the major five states in north India will go through the elections, opposition parties and media personalities are intermingling the concept of fear of losing elections is the main motive of the central government to take u turn on the farm laws.

The protest reached the borders of Delhi when farmers gave the slogan “chalo Delhi”after two months of dharnas , protests in their respective states. Initially nobody thought that this would become the longest protest in the history of Indian farming. On 26th November 2020 when farmers were heading towards Ramleela maidan and jantar mantar for continuing their protest, they were stopped by the police forces on the borders itself.

The police forces used tear gas , water cannons, barricades etc to stop the farmers from entering the national capital. The three main borders where the protest centered itself were Singhu , Gazipur and Tikri Border of the capital. Farmers have faced many allegations during this period they were called khalistanis, Pakistanis, Anti nationalists , Maoists and
many more terminologies were used for them. On the 12th of January 2021, the Supreme Court of India implemented a stay on these three farm laws in order to bring the government and farmers to reach a conclusion.

But one incident that took place during this protest was the violence that happened on the RedFort in New Delhi on the 26th January. On that day, farmers preached the security and entered the fort leading to mishaps between police force and farmers. During this particular incident it was reported that around 300 to 400 policemen received injuries. According to the charge sheet submitted by the Delhi police on the Republic Day violence revealed that the farmers wanted to capture the fort and convert it into the site for protest against the three farm laws.

Post this incident the Police and security forces of Delhi barricaded the borders with utmost scrutiny with multiple layers of barriers. But, the protest gained huge momentum post 28th January 2021, millions of farmers reached the protest site after the action taken by the central government. The agitation saw many ups and downs, not only in terms of facing the extreme weather conditions be it the extremely spine chilling winters to the hot spell of Delhi summers, extremely poor sanitation facilities which were present on the site of protests. They were ready to face anything as they found the law’s death warrants for farmers.

Many meetings and discussions occurred between members of the centre government led by the Minister for Agriculture and Farmers welfare shri. Narendra Singh Tomar and forty farmer’s unions at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi yet the issues were not resolved. But the violence of the Republic Day closed the channels for any further face to face talks between the government representatives and the farmer’s union representatives. Farmers continued their struggle, they conducted hundreds of rallies and maha panchayats to spread their plight and issues. Their representatives were travelling from one state to another so that they could tell how farmers would suffer more if these laws were implemented. Many common men agreed to them and some of them also differed.

Farmer’s always stood by the motto of non-violence and keeping the protest as democratic as possible. Though some mishaps were reported off and on from the site of the protest. When the news of repealing the three farm laws came in every farmer was extremely joyous and the whole nation thought that the farmers will now go back but they are still present on the site of protest and decided to stay till the laws are not taken back in the parliament of India. The Farmer’s Union has decided to stay on the borders till their demands are not fulfilled in a democratic way.

This issue is still entrancing, because everyone expected that, once the announcement was made farmers will put an end to this movement.