Is this the death or triumph of democracy in India?

January 26, 2021

Muneeta Aneja

Violence has erupted near the ITO area of the national capital as protesting farmers reached there, by surpassing the police barricades. It can't be affirmed that which side had started the violence first. However, the tractor rally marched off peacefully from its stations and everything was going on smoothly. The question is that, why were these barricades positioned in the first place?

India is a democratic country, people of this nation possess a fundamental right to assemble peacefully and hold peaceful protests and this is what the farmers of this Nation have been doing for more than 3 months now.

The Delhi Police which comes under the ambit of the Union Home Minister Amit Shah can be witnessed dropping off tear gas shells and executing lathi charges on the protesting farmers. This provoked the farmers uprising even more. On one hand, some protesters maintained their calm, whereas some succumbed to the path of violence.

A protestor even hosted the flag by reaching the mast of the historic Red Fort. Several police personnel and farmers have been injured in the protest. The police claim, that the farmers attacked them first and started vandalising vehicles. On the contrary, the Farmer leader and Spokesperson Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) Rakesh Tikait affirmed that he has no information about violence and the Rally is advancing smoothly. He said, we are at Ghazipur and are releasing the traffic here.

Few Inside sources have revealed, that some hooligans were intentionally added into the farmers' tractor rally to ruin their reputation and allege them as anti-national. Instead of restoring to peaceful methods, the Twitteratis and social media groups have been divided into two parts, where some of them are spreading fake photoshopped images and even declared the protesting Indian farmers to be Khalistani terrorists.

Apparently, the Sikh regiment is one of the world's largest Militant Regiment, and from Raja Ranjit Singh, Maharaja Gulab Singh to the vast majority of Sikhs residing in India share a spirit of nationalism for their country and can even give away their lives to protect it, till their last breath. These are the same Sikhs, who reach the most unfortunate places in the time of calamities saving millions of lives, whether it be Nepal or Kedarnath. They are the ones serving meals and saving people out of their Khalsa funds, and calling them Khalistani, is an insult to their pride and turban. It is an insult to the entire nation. They are the ones who run the largest kitchen in this world as the Golden temple and feed thousands of people every day.

And the farmers irrespective of their caste, class, race or the state they belong to, work hard in their fields amid scorching sun, monsoon, harsh winter mornings to feed our bellies every day, and they don't deserve to hear this from us. One should refrain from passing such statements.

This is their country, as much as ours and it's the failure of the Union Home Ministry to not let a peaceful protest reach its pinnacle with peace. I leave it up to my readers, to decide the involvement of political factors and the non-compliance of promises made by the Delhi police and the fate of more than 130 deceased protesting farmers within the period of three and half months of peaceful protests with no concrete results in hands.

A democracy has to be quick in dissolving such matters, we would have never witnessed this day in both historic and dark terms if the government would have repealed the farm laws earlier. What were they waiting for?

At least, we know one thing from Arnab Goswami's and former BARC chief WhatsApp chats, that political agendas appear before everything. Was this a mere political agenda to incite violence and prove the farmers wrong? Was this a planned move, to extend the farmers protest up till now? Were the speculations right that some political hooligans disguised as farmers will be taking a stride in this rally, for some mere amount? And even if the farmers who were quiet since one-third of a year till now, became violent, What were the driving forces behind it? Though, there's no justification for violence.

Whatever it may be, it is a humble request from our side to both the parties to refrain from violence and maintain peace. We also request the Honourable Indian government to kindly dispose of the matter as soon as possible, and let the farmers return safely to their homeland and let Delhi stay in peace.