Modi’s pratfall

Saturday 20th November, 2021

Protesting Indian farmers have prevailed after a year-long struggle. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was left with no alternative but to bite the bullet and make a course correction; he has chosen to repeal the controversial farm laws which led to farmers’ protests across India. It is being argued in some quarters that the Modi government would not have conceded defeat but for the crucial elections due next year in some of the states, where farmers have turned extremely hostile towards the BJP. It is however doubtful whether the BJP will be able to assuage farmers’ anger anytime soon.

Modi has earned a name for himself as a strong leader. He first sought to bulldoze his way through in dealing with his rivals. But most of his radical reforms have run into stiff resistance and therefore been put on hold. Buoyed by impressive parliamentary majorities, Modi may have thought it would be plain sailing for his government because the Opposition was too weak to resist, much less pose a political threat to the BJP. But there seems to have emerged an extra parliamentary opposition capable of acting as an effective countervailing force against the BJP.

The success of Indian farmers’ struggle is likely to inspire their counterparts in neighbouring countries to take on their governments in a similar manner to safeguard their rights and interests. Sri Lankan farmers have also been on the warpath albeit for different reasons; faced with the prospect of suffering huge yield losses due to the country’s haphazard switchover to organic fertiliser, they are protesting against a fertiliser shortage. The government is determined to go ahead with its organic project come what may, and its intransigence has provoked farmers beyond measure, as can be seen from widespread demonstrations, where government politicians’ effigies are torched.

Modi’s U-turn on farm laws is said to have come as a huge disappointment for his ardent supporters who wanted him to get tough with his opponents and overcome resistance to the BJP policies. Modi would have been more than happy to do so but for the political risks such a course of action is fraught with. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has also disappointed his supporters who wanted him to bulldoze his rivals. He himself said, the other day, that he could have the protesting farmers taken by the scruffs of their necks, but he did not want to do so. Such tactics have shown to be counterproductive in dealing with resistance, the world over, as was seen in India. The Rajapaksa government resorted to coercive measures in a desperate bid to crush teachers’ protests, but in vain; it has had to grant all their demands.

Meanwhile, the Indian farmers took to the streets in protest against the deregulation of India’s agricultural sector, accusing PM Modi of favouring the food companies owned by his chum, Gautam Adani, known as Modi’s Rockefeller. Interestingly, the Adani Group sought to secure the East Container Terminal deal here, but his plan went pear-shaped due to trade union protests. It has however succeeded in sealing a deal with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority to develop and run the West Container Terminal, where it will have a 51% stake.

In Sri Lanka, too, extra parliamentary forces seem to have overtaken the political Opposition, which is at war with itself instead of the government, and has failed to live up to the people’s expectations. The Opposition politicians are all hat and no cattle, as they say.

Port workers were the first to humble the incumbent government, which considers its two-thirds majority a wish-granting magic wand, and the sky is the limit. Then, the warring teachers brought it to its knees. Farmers are threatening their version of Dilli Chalo (‘Go to Delhi’) protest; they are threatening to march on Colombo if they suffer crop losses due to the fertiliser shortage. Worse, Ceylon Electricity Board workers are threatening a continuous strike if the government does not scrap its questionable agreement with the US energy firm, New Fortress.

The SLPP leaders had better learn from Modi’s ignominious pratfall, and make an early course correction.