Space For All On This Flagpole

Did the Sikh flag known as Nishan Sahib go up at Red Fort on January 26? Yes. Who put it up? There are stories and stories. Whoever did, it came to have a meaning. Did they displace the Indian flag? No. Is it okay for a religious symbol to be fluttering at a site that has come to be adopted by the Indian state as a metaphor for nationhood, despite a complicated and disputed history? Not necessarily. Did India바카라�s new Parliament building project get inaugurated with religious symbolism? Yes, just the other day. A debate over which was more legitimate (or not) is not what India needs. There are more vital issues at stake, to do with livelihood.

The tractor rally on Republic Day came at the end of a two-month-long farmers바카라� movement바카라�a strikingly durable and cohesive affair, judging by the numerous and disparate actors who are part of it. An 바카라�actor바카라� called Deep Sidhu does not describe them. But he took the lead role in producing a situation that became an inflection point for the movement바카라�indeed, for India바카라�s democracy itself. At the end of the day, the Nishan Sahib, the religious flag of Sikhs, was fluttering alongside the Tricolor at Red Fort. The streets of Delhi saw some violence as the police and protesters바카라�children of the same social universe바카라�encountered each other in a drama over the formal procedures of permission or its absence. Unprecedented scenes were witnessed as tractors바카라�the very symbol of India바카라�s green revolution바카라�moved past barricades, attacking police personnel who came in their way, as they moved towards the symbolic heart of New Delhi. Under strict orders not to open fire, over 300 policemen sustained injuries. Many of them got multiple fractures, jumping into the moat from the Red Fort ramparts to escape violent agitators. They put themselves at risk to maintain law and order바카라�vulnerable, and visible, in a way they were not when violence raged in the Capital a year ago. Or visible only in less than flattering ways. That was at the end of the anti-CAA agitation, a remarkably similar episode of India바카라�s citizenry speaking to its government. Being Muslim-led, that was more vulnerable to popular characterisations of 바카라�anti-nationalism바카라�. An allegation slightly more difficult to sustain when protesters come from the heartland of western UP, Haryana and Punjab.

But Punjab provides an opening. Talk of 바카라�pro-Khalistan바카라� elements having infiltrated the farmers바카라� protest is in the air. The name of a US-based secessionist organisation, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), has come up. The SFJ had given a call to the protesting farmers on January 11 바카라�to raise the Khalistan flag at India Gate바카라� on Republic Day and had offered a reward of US $2,50,000 to whoever does it, with the promise to help the person resettle in the UK as a refugee. This is where the name of Punjabi actor-singer Deep Sidhu comes in. He바카라�s the one who handed the 바카라�kesri바카라� flag to the man who climbed the pole at Red Fort. Who is Sidhu? A bundle of contradictions. A young Punjabi singer-actor who managed to mouth words on TV that seemed to express a vein of anarchism that even the far left has long discarded, with touches of Khalistani nationalism. And all that just a year after being actor-turned-BJP MP Sunny Deol바카라�s aide during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, possessing a photo that has him and Deol posing with none other than the prime minister. In between, he also managed to get on the radar of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with a case filed against the SFJ on December 15. Far left? Anarchist? Khalistani? Saffron? It doesn바카라�t really matter. The only lesson here is that a gadfly who loves to put himself in the news (and in photographs with important people) cannot be used as a benchmark for India바카라�s farmers.

And yet, the unfortunate happenings of January 26 have affected the farmers바카라� protest, one that had remained peaceful for over two months. The farmers바카라�many of them old and infirm바카라�had won public sympathy as they braved north India바카라�s bitter winter out in the open with plenty grit. Their resolve to remain peaceful was their strength. Even the BJP acknowledges that. 바카라�The farmers remained adamant even after the government offered to keep the laws in abeyance for 1-1.5 years, but they still had people바카라�s support. The violence has been a self-goal for them. It will be very difficult for them to bring their movement back on track,바카라� says a senior party leader.

That could be an expression of the scepticism that reigns on the other side of the fence, even if cast in charitable words. But it puts a finger on the problem. The farmer leaders are still trying to figure out how things went so horribly wrong. Some 37 of them have been named in an FIR, including Rakesh Tikait바카라�son of Mahendra Singh Tikait, the farmer leader from western UP who put the Bharatiya Kisan Union on India바카라�s map during the 1988 protests바카라�and Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj India, who arrived at the helm of these protests with a very different political history. Several well-known people, including Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, have been charged with sedition for all­egedly spreading violence through social media posts. Some unions, like the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee and farmer leader V.M. Singh have withdrawn support from the protests, others also weighing their options. It is clear that a wedge has been driven in the movement. Announcing his withdrawal from the movement, Singh blamed Rakesh Tikait for misleading protesters and going back on the agreement with the Delhi Police regarding the route to be followed. Tikait, meanwhile, claims the Delhi Police had wrongly placed barricades at some places of pre-decided routes.

Sources say the Delhi Police바카라�on whom even the Supreme Court left the decision on whether the tractor rally should be allowed바카라�was not in favour of granting permission. They would be under too much pressure anyway, handling security on the crucial day. Not to speak of intelligence inputs warning about 바카라�some elements바카라� among the agitators, a familiar trope that inevitably brought Pakistan into the deb­ate. Delhi Police Commissioner S.N. Shrivastava exp­ressed his reservations in a series of meetings with the Home Ministry. However, it was a political decision to allow the tractor rally rather than risk more confrontation with angry, determined farmers. Former Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar believes there weren바카라�t many options before the government. 바카라�There바카라�s no way you could have res­trained them. The only way would have been to open fire, which would have had serious repercussions. But non-lethal methods바카라�water-cannons, teargas shells, lathicharge바카라�did not work,바카라� he says.

The strategy, he says, would have been to spread the protesters thin by allowing them in from three points, but that ensured the police were spread thin too. 바카라�There바카라�s a limit to the security force you can deploy on Republic Day. But what happened at Red Fort was reprehensible,바카라� says Kumar. He finds it tragic that the agitators used lathis with the national flag to beat policemen. 바카라�There are no easy answers to what happened and whether it could have been prevented. I don바카라�t envy the CP for the position he finds himself in,바카라� he adds.

In the event, the sheer numbers caught everyone off-guard바카라�the police and even the farmer leaders. The latter had some intimation바카라�at least by the afternoon of January 24. But while the overwhelming response brought cheers to farmers camping at Delhi바카라�s borders, it was a problem for those working out the details. But even they were thinking logistics, not law and order.

바카라�No other protest in history has ever been as widespread, yet as peaceful as ours,바카라� says Hannan Mollah, general secretary of the CPI(M)-backed All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS). 바카라�We condemn and regret such acts and dissociate ourselves from it. Some outsiders wanted to disrupt our peaceful process,바카라� he adds. Dinesh Kulkarni of the RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) looks askance at that stand. 바카라�What바카라�s the use of disassociating yourself or condemning an act after it has been committed?바카라� he asks. The BKS does not want the government to repeal the laws but has strong views on them. It바카라�s pressing for MSP to be secured by a new legislation or an amendment to the existing one, for traders to be registered, for agriculture courts in all districts and for corporates to be kept out of the definition of 바카라�farmer바카라�. The government, says Kulkarni, has been sensitive and patient enough, as the 11 rounds of talks prove. 바카라�They even agreed to hold back the laws for 18 months,바카라� he says, 바카라�but the protesting farmers even refuse to speak with the committee set up by the apex court.바카라�

A senior BJP leader admits the farmers had popular support till January 26. That바카라�s why the RSS intervened and nudged the government to find a 바카라�middle ground바카라�바카라�that바카라�s how the offer to keep the laws in abeyance came about. 바카라�However, the violence has been a self-goal,바카라� he says. Ashwani Mahajan, co-convener of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM), another Sangh outfit, says the anarchy witnessed on Republic Day is not healthy in a democracy. 바카라�The government was being reasonable and flexible. Bringing in lakhs of people in an agitating mode was absolutely uncalled for. The farmers should have acc­epted the offer of suspending the laws. They too have to be receptive and cannot insist on repeal of laws. They lost an opportunity to find solutions,바카라� he tells Outlook.

It바카라�s natural that the BJP, finding itself on the wrong side of a popular protest coming out of the heart of rural north India, is amb­ivalent about the core issues바카라�even if the RSS shares some of the farmers바카라� concerns. But the government has a point, and has derived a moral advantage in a situation where it was scarce. 바카라�The onus now rests with the union leaders to convince the Supreme Court that they were not responsible for the violence in Delhi and that 바카라�outsiders바카라� had hijacked their peaceful rally,바카라� says a senior government functionary. The farmer leaders too are aware they have lost an edge they had. Those spearheading the agitation are back at the drawing board, re-strategising, trying to keep a brave front.

Some unions are not keen to get into further confrontation. Sensing that the narrative could be going against it for the first time, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella organisation handling the protests, insists 바카라�the movement will continue peacefully, and further steps will be discussed and decided soon바카라�. They are sticking to the 바카라�outsiders바카라� theory and renewing their pledge to 바카라�peaceful바카라� means. Yogendra Yadav, part of regular media briefings on behalf of the protesters and active on social media, was all chagrin as he rendered a heartfelt apology for what happened in Delhi. But both those keen to see the movement in a bad light and those on the other side, clearing themselves with conspiracy theories, miss a point. The leadership is actually being led. Just like the anti-CAA protests of a year ago, these are classic leaderless protests. There will be some bad apples and some rosy-cheeked ones who like to be on TV. But this is not about them. Not when the whole orchard is out there.