Can farmers bend Modi's will?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to possess a will that does not bend under the pressure or pleas of the people His will is credited with having driven his government to sweep aside acute public discomfort to implement demonetisation the Goods and Services Tax and COVIDinduced national lockdown on just four hours of notice His will is also cited to explain his risky decisions of reading down Article 370 launching a retaliatory airstrike against Pakistan and enacting the Citizenship Amendment ActThe supporters of Modi say the indomitable nature of his will springs from his certitude that his policies will create a better India They in the manner of a character in novelist Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale would argue Better never means better for everyonehellipIt always means worse for some They say Modi is justified to not let the misery of some rescind his decisions taken for building a new IndiaThe opponents of Modi perceive his will as an extension of his arrogance which has grown with stunning electoral successes This has made him believe he is infallible and shortcircuit democratic processes and stamp out dissidence For them his will is the will of a dictator whose flawed policies have a debilitating impact on many not some Their opposition has been muted because they realise the futility of pressuring Modi into reversing his policiesThe ongoing farmer protest outside Delhi has put the indomitability of Modis will on test There are reasons why state power cannot be deployed to crush the farmer protest dominated by the Sikhs of Punjab For one a disaffected Punjab will provide Pakistan a front other than Kashmir to destabilise India For another an alienated Sikh community could strain social relations in Punjab where Hindus are 39 per cent of the population Nor would Modis indifference to the protest sap the energy of farmers who can replenish their resources from their home bases of Punjab and Haryana that are contiguous to DelhiInitially the Bharatiya Janata Party sought to tag protesting farmers as Khalistanis and Naxalites to demoralise them But the ruling party backtracked as its tactic did not diminish the support for the protest in even the Hindudominated Haryana Wary of rural discontent spreading the government opened negotiations with the farmer unions which insist the three new farm laws must be repealed before they call off their stirThis concession will signify Modi bending before the popular will It is to preclude this possibility that his government has offered to amend the laws to the satisfaction of the farmer unions Amendments can be dressed as a compromise hammered out between the farmers and the government ndash and would not shatter the popular perception of Modis will The BJP depends on this perception to subliminally underscore to those who have suffered from Modis economic mismanagement the sheer futility of rising in protest against him This advantage would be squandered with the government repealing the new farm laws for the indomitable nature of Modis will would then be seen as a myth emboldening the discontented to resist his policiesModis other tactic of placating the Sikhs is to celebrate the martyrdom of their Gurus and their families for protecting as he said Indias civilisation from the cruel misdemeanours of tyrants and tormentors The tyrants were Muslim by faith their place of origin was Central Asia Modi was invoking the Hindutva precept that those who consider India as their fatherland and holy land are culturally united He was conveying to Sikh farmers that as a paramount Hindutva leader he could not be unjust to them They must trust his policiesHowever Modis paeans to the Gurus also convey a coded message to the Hindus whom Hindutva has taught to look upon the Sikhs as their fighting arm It is the Sikhs who are unwilling to bend not him It is they who are responsible for undermining the essential cultural unity forged by Hindutva Modis imposition of religious identity on the protesters distinguishes Sikh farmers from their Hindu counterparts in the North The latter must not desert the Hindutva fold to opt for the occupational unity of farmers They must not forget who their real tormentors areNo wonder Uttar Pradesh promulgated the ordinance against love jihad two days after the farmers arrived outside Delhi on November 28 Is the recent outbreak of communal tension in Madhya Pradeshs Mandsaur district which witnessed a stirring farmer protest in 2017 a coincidence Indeed the indomitability of Modis will is linked to Hindutvas ascendancy its decline will shift the focus to economic issuesSociologist Paramjit Singh Judge says research worldwide shows that the two attributes of leaders appreciated most are firmness and fairness The three farm laws are widely seen as Modis promotion of corporate conglomerates at the expense of farmers This has established his unfairness The governments negotiations with the farmer unions today January 4 will test the firmness of his will Modis dilemma is that his firmness will make him appear unfair His wish to appear fair would require him to retreat and expose as mythical the indomitability of his willThe writer is a senior journalistSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individuals and dont represent those of the paper