Though it came as a surprise to many, it was actually with an eye on the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh and Punjab elections that early morning today in a televised address to the people, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the repeal of the three farm laws after a prolonged sit-in by farmers that continued for 450+ days at the periphery of the national capital and other cities and states in the country. Jamia Millia Islamia Alumni and Communications expert Daud Arif presents his views of how this happened and the lessons to be learnt by the Muslim community and the CAA protestors.

FARMERS STOOD DETERMINED AMIDSTS THE SUMMERS, WINTERS, second wave of the Covid19 pandemic, with over 600+ lives lost during the agitation. While we hail this as a victory of people’s movement, satyagraha and democracy, there is more that needs to be looked at than just binaries. Also, this is a learning moment for the citizens engaged in the agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which preceded the farmers’ protest.

The farmers’ morcha, notwithstanding all its shortcomings, underlined the Importance of coming across as a united pressure group, dissolving inherent ideological and regional differences.

Importance of coming across as a pressure group, dissolving differences:
The farmers, despite their differences, continued to protest as one entity, with blurred differences and unified leadership. The resolve to come across as a pressure group has been a key highlight of this protest, something that was missing during the earlier held CAA protests. In the case of farmers, there was less urge and minimal effort to defend the allegations thrown at them, whereas, during CAA, the young protesters ended up focusing more to defend allegations posed by the propagandist Godi Media and the people in power over time.

Assertion of identity
Farmers as a group at no point in time shied from owning up their identity. There was some resistance by some diehard rationalists, but generally, the farmers wore their cultural identity on their sleeves while they continued to protest on the ground.

Farmers from the Sikh community had their flags and symbols displayed prominently at the protest sites. While the nature of the protest stood to be economic, there was no shying away from embracing and proudly exhibiting the religious and cultural identities despite the foul nature of the media and the state machinery bad mouthing them.

Cut to the CAA times -protestors, groups, time and again were warned against using religious slogans, symbols during the protest. The instance when the ‘Say it on the Barricade, La Ilaaha Ilallah (Say it on the barricade, There is No God But Allah) was once used by a group of protestors during a march around Jamia, other fellow organizers, leaders, sympathizers took no minute to distance themselves from the slogan. Some even went on to condemn the same.

The entire government machinery resorted to sustained propaganda that the protestors sitting on protests are paid actors, the actual farmers aren’t here, the protestors here are anti-national, and foreign players are funding the protests.

More focus on the cause, less on perception war
Farmers continued to stay focused on their cause of getting the farm laws repealed and gave fewer efforts and importance on fighting the perception war.

During protests, people from all walks of life joined in for the cause, and there were chances of incidents taking place which might not fall in line with the cause. Farmers were mature to make sure these incidents didn’t end up shadowing the movement.

Cut to the CAA times when there was constant pressure among protestors to make sure the perception war is fought fiercely.

Observing the farmers’ protest with a close lens, one would realize that farmers came forth with a voice of their own and went all lengths to amplify it through their actions, media presence and strategy.

Farmers from the Sikh community had their flags and symbols displayed prominently at the protest sites. While the nature of the protest stood to be economic, there was no shying away from embracing and proudly exhibiting the religious and cultural identities despite the foul nature of the media and the state machinery bad mouthing them.

Finding your own voice, amplifying the same
While sympathizers and supporters did join from time to time, their role was limited to being supporters. For instance, each time Yogendra Yadav tried to hack ground, (something which he is good at and is seen often doing in the past protests as well), the farmer leaders were mature to convey that he is an additional voice as a supporter and farmers continued to have a voice of their own, protesting the cause. Swara Bhaskar and Anurag Kashyap phenomenon did not happen much at protest sites here.

Flashback to the CAA times, when a section of the pseudo-liberal groups, intellectuals and academia were encouraged to come and voice while the leaders were forced to take a backseat.

Flashback to the CAA times, when a section of the pseudo-liberal groups, intellectuals and academia were encouraged to come and voice while the leaders were forced to take a backseat.

Rejoicing over small victories is fine, essential to stay focussed on the end-goal
When the Union Agriculture Minister started inviting the farmer leaders for talks, it was an early sign of victory. It signalled that the government was opening up for a dialogue. While this was in a way big, the protestors here didn’t go all orgasmic and made sure they stood firm, wanting the repeal of the laws. This is probably another sign of a mature group of protestors, something that the CAA protestors lacked.

While the nature of protests stands distinct and there are other dynamics in play, for instance, farmers as a group form for a larger voter group and the government wanting to appeal to this voters base than the minorities which were protesting the CAA, who are anyway not on the good voter list for the government, an analysis can come in handy to understand the modern-day protests.

Daud Arif is alumni of Anwar Jamal Kidwai Mass Communication and Research Center -the official Mass Communication Centre at Jamia. He works as a Communications Expert on different national and International Media Projects.