As Punjab shifts into electoral gear and political parties jostle to position themselves just right, the farmers’ agitation sees in this scenario an existential crisis. The farmers’ movement, the likes of Balbir Singh Rajewal, Darshan Pal and their cohort suspect, will not be able to grapple with this new reality. They have now opted for a diktat that directly speaks to the very question of democracy. Senior journalist and debate moderator, SP Singh, engages in an animated conversation about whether farmer unions were correct in asking political parties to not undertake election campaigns at this juncture.

Punjab is passing through an existential moment in history, and witnessing a war of narratives. One of the most widely supported resistance movements – against the three federal agriculture-related laws that were rammed through in Parliament by the Modi government – now seems to be running into an oncoming election machine.

The agitation fears that once the partisan political machine gathers speed, the morcha will lose out in the game of eyeballs, headcount, media space and steam gathering. Any partisan political joust is likely to bring out fissures within the society and will split the electorate in villages and towns. Election campaigns, by their very nature, are loud, noisy and dividers of votes, narratives, loyalties and political strengths, the movement leaders fear.

Claiming a monopoly over resistance politics, most farmer unions under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) have issued a directive, labelled as “appeal”, asking political parties not to indulge in any political activity: “Do not call too many people, do not hold rallies, do not do electioneering, do not go canvassing for votes, do not do political activity in villages or cities that might be seen as vote canvassing exercise.” That’s the sort of narrative that has become the standard line of those claiming loyalty to the Singhu border morcha hordes. 

The fact is that political parties attract the same cadre that’s also camping at the borders or is seen as the support base of the farmer movement. The SKM’s “appeal” came with a rider: “Those who do not adhere to it will be understood as opponents of the Kisan morcha.” This has had a chilling effect on any meaningful discussion about how the farmer agitation and scheduled electoral process will find a way to play out at the same time.

Politics, as everyone and his uncle understands, is a highly competitive field, and the project to get into power is a full five-year-long exercise, not just the last 15 or 30 days allowed for campaigning. The Kisan Morcha leaders said politicians are free to attend social functions, but the Social-Political line is a Mason-Dixon boundary for politicos.

By asking political parties to withhold their rallies, the Kisan Morcha is actually recognising their power. But at the same time, the party in power at the Centre, and the one in State, are splashing crores on advertisements that clearly are aimed at impacting voter minds.

In an era when political parties are into spin-doctoring, and the Prashant Kishoring of elections starts happening months or years in advance, the Samayukt  Kisan Morcha’s diktat against poll rallies is problematic, to say the least.

Besides, there are deep fissures within the farmers’ agitation, with BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) not fully backing the call of appeal to political parties to not hold rallies. Besides, the Ugrahan group isn’t really in love with parliamentary democracy.

In an era when political parties are into spin-doctoring, and the Prashant Kishoring of elections starts happening months or years in advance, the Samayukt  Kisan Morcha’s diktat against poll rallies is problematic, to say the least.

Besides, the SKM is not giving any guarantee that elements with access to the Singhu Border Dharna stage will not be candidates in upcoming polls. That complicates the debate even further.