Bharat Bhushan: What the Opposition can learn from Maharashtra's farmers
The Opposition parties
had failed to counter Narendra Modi’s political narrative in the 2014 general
election campaign. That story was based on creating jobs, curbing black money
and economic development in the mirror-image of Mr Modi’s “Gujarat
model”. Those unrealised dreams have since been consigned to the dustbin with
Mr Modi now being described by wags as “India’s biggest non-performing asset”.
Mr Modi may well have
a newer narrative for the next general election — possibly an emotive and
communally divisive one. However, the Opposition parties have yet to find a
counter- narrative.
In this bleak
political landscape, the success of the farmers’ movement in Maharashtra points
to a way forward. The surrender of the Devendra Fadnavis government before the
40,000-strong farmers who marched to Mumbai holds several important lessons for
the Opposition.
After a long time,
political parties across the ideological spectrum supported the farmers’
demands — ranging from the All India Kisan Sabha of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist), which had organised the march, to the Congress, Nationalist
Congress Party, Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Aam Aadmi Party. Even
the Shiv Sena, an estranged ally of the ruling BJP, argued against judging the
farmers’ movement by its ideological colour.
The support of
ordinary folk was overwhelming as they greeted the farmers with open arms.
Across Mumbai, civil society groups, residents’ welfare associations, religious
organisations and ordinary individuals greeted the marching farmers with
packets of food, water, free medical care and even footwear, moved by the media
pictures of their calloused, blistered and bleeding feet.
Even as a BJP
government given to talking tough was brought to its knees, the farmers’ march
offered an opportunity to develop an alternative political narrative based on
issues that impact the lives of ordinary people and it was effectively
articulated through a mass movement. The support that the movement has received
shows that it is not impossible for the Opposition parties to sink their local
contradictions to stand behind peoples’ demands.
The tribal farmers
from Thane, Palghar, Nashik and Nandurbar in Maharashtra have manifestly proven
that the BJP is not invincible and that its disconnect from the ground reality
is all too visible.
The very government in
Mumbai which completely ignored the farmers’ march for five days started
quaking once it saw how much public support was drawn to it. The chief minister
virtually conceded the farmers’ demands even before he met with their
representatives.
In April 2017 Mr
Fadnavis, even as he announced a farm loan waiver, had criticised it as an
unsustainable measure. However, he was forced to concede a condition-free loan
waiver for farmers left out of the previous one by extending it to loans taken
between 2001 and 2008. The earlier waiver had been given only for loans taken
after 2009. He also quickly agreed
to address the bottlenecks in legalising the rights of forest-dwellers to till
forest land to which they were entitled under the Forest Rights Act of 2006. A
host of other demands were also conceded, included giving higher minimum support
price for agricultural produce, river linking projects and even the replacement
of torn and damaged ration cards!
Rights, even if
granted by the State, clearly remain on paper unless people ensure their
implementation — by monitoring them, seeking transparency and accountability
and by shaking the system periodically through agitations. This is how a
coherent narrative of their demands was developed by the Maharashtra farmers,
allowing them to occupy the political centre-stage.
Those in the
Opposition who want to develop an alternative political narrative should see
that now more than ever before, there is a need to connect with peoples’
movements. Such movements, besides civil society organisations and other
grassroots organisations of peasants, workers and migrants, are the most
reliable way of finding out what affects the lives of the marginalised and what
political agendas of change should include.
There are even today a
number of organisations that have been relentlessly asserting peoples’ right to
life, liberty and livelihood. Despite the Big State turning its mighty
machinery against them, they organise protests and agitations at the local,
regional and national levels. These movements and groups are the best
indicators of the changes that people want.
At a time when
Hindutva forces are trying to subvert the secular and democratic character of
this country, the Opposition parties must unite to protect the foundations of
our constitutional republic. However, a unified ideological opposition to the BJP’s
divisive politics also has to be combined with a programme of transforming
lives. The Opposition
political parties, therefore, need to learn from the peoples’ movements, join
them on the streets, help in mass mobilisation and organise protests. This will
help them shed the creeping sense of diffidence and impotence in the face of
the “cleverness” and organisational prowess of the BJP.
Beyond a point the
public is not impressed by cleverness, especially when it conflicts with their
daily experiences of the State withdrawing systematically from running quality
educational institutions, communalising the curriculum, encouraging costly and
privatised health services and handing over public land and other resources to
corporate enterprises and reducing their access to public services. The
Narendra Modi government, which had been sponsored by corporates, is busy
repaying its debts to them and unwilling to regulate their “loot and scoot”
strategies.
India has seen the
emergence of new political leadership from mass movements in the past. This
happened during the freedom movement, in the movement against the Emergency and
during the Anna Hazare agitation over the Lokpal Bill. There is a new crop of
leaders no one had ever heard of even four years ago - Jignesh Mewani, Hardik
Patel, Alpesh Thakur, Kanhaiya Kumar and Shehla Rashid are among the young
political leaders to reckon with today. The national political
parties critical of the BJP must connect the pockets of resistance which exist
and are constantly emerging in the country. They must join hands with them. The
collective wisdom emanating from below alone can help formulate a narrative to
counter the BJP.
http://www.asianage.com/opinion/columnists/150318/what-opposition-can-learn-from-maha-farmers.html