[WSMDiscuss] Ruling party BJP top brass in huddle over farm protest fallout in 40 Lok Sabha [Parliament] seats in Jat belt (Liz Mathew)

Wed Feb 17 22:05:12 CET 2021

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

India in movement…, Farmers in movement, Peasants in movement…, Corporations in movement…, Politics in movement…, Resistance in movement…, Democracy in movement…, Ideas in movement…, History in movement…, Herstory in movement…

[As, perhaps, many on this list know, caste – and pride in one’s caste - is a hugely important factor in social and political life in India; and a bonding force.  This is equally true of the Jats (or Jatts), which is not a caste but an ethnic group (see https://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Jatt <https://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Jatt>) who constitute a very substantial proportion of farmers in Punjab, and now also in the neighbouring states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, across the north and northwest of India.  This bond now appears to be rising as a major force in the current standoff between the farmers and the government, as a result of the perception by the farmers that the government is not only ignoring them and not caring for what they are saying but attempting to implement what it has in mind – and with the corporations behind them –, no matter what.  And as earlier posts have indicated, this bond is thereby emerging as a political force that will have major relevance in next elections, both local and national.

[This article suggests that the government, and the ruling party the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party – ‘Indian People’s Party’) from the local to the national levels, is now getting increasingly worried about what is happening.  The Lok Sabha (‘House of the People’) in the Indian parliament presently has 543 seats; 40 seats now being in question is a huge factor – and that is in this region alone.

[In many ways though, the situation taking this shape was almost inevitable, and predictable, and it’s more than surprising that it has taken them so long to realise that dealing with the farmers, and especially with the Jatt farmers, was – and is - not going to be a walkover :

Ruling party BJP top brass in huddle over farm protest fallout in 40 Lok Sabha [Parliament] seats in Jat belt

Party chief J P Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah met MPs, MLAs, and district leaders against the backdrop of a string of mahapanchayats by protesting farm leaders in the sugar belt

Liz Mathew <https://indianexpress.com/profile/author/liz-mathew/>
Updated: February 17, 2021 7:32:30 am IST

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/farmers-protest-farm-laws-bjp-lok-sabha-seats-7191730/ <https://indianexpress.com/article/india/farmers-protest-farm-laws-bjp-lok-sabha-seats-7191730/>

Scene from the farmers’ protest in India

WARY over the farmer agitation spreading across the Jat belt, the BJP <https://indianexpress.com/about/bjp/> top brass Tuesday held talks with party leaders from Haryana, Rajasthan and Western Uttar Pradesh, resuming their attempts to find ways to end the stalemate.

Party chief J P Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah met MPs, MLAs and district leaders against the backdrop of a string of mahapanchayats by protesting farm leaders in the sugar belt.

Also present were Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjeev Balyan, who belongs to the Jat community. Sources said Shah asked party leaders to intensify their campaign to explain the benefits of the three laws and ensure those who are “misleading” farmers get a “fitting reply from people.”

Sources said party leaders conveyed to the BJP leadership their assessment of the ground situation. And their concerns if the agitation continues and there are no visible attempts by the government towards a resolution.

Sources said senior leaders underlined that disaffection among Jats could affect at least 40 Lok Sabha seats in these regions and so the party has to ensure the protests do not spread. The leaders reportedly said that “professional agitators of the Left,” are orchestrating the protests and they need to be strongly countered.

Local leaders have been asked to be in touch with all Khap leaders and office-bearers of BJP units in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana have been asked to prepare “strategies” to ensure this, said a BJP leader.

Also Read |Farmers’ protest: Law of sedition cannot be invoked to quieten the disquiet, says Delhi court <https://indianexpress.com/article/india/farmers-protest-sedition-delhi-court-7191547/>
The almost three-month-long agitation has spread to western UP’s sugar belt after BKU leader Rakesh Tikait <https://indianexpress.com/article/india/a-breakdown-and-the-rise-of-farmer-leader-rakesh-tikait-7167239/>’s emotional appeal to farmers on January 27 in the wake of the attempt by  the Uttar Pradesh government to get the protest site at Ghazipur vacated.

In recent years, the BJP has made significant inroads among the Jat community, mainly due to the waning popularity of the Ajit Singh-led RLD and the hardening divide between Jats and Muslims. RLD leader and Ajit Singh’s son Jayant Choudhary has been very active in holding protest rallies.

Meanwhile, a senior Union minister said that the government has told farmers it’s ready for talks and the “other side should come up with their concerns.”

Asked if the government would bring a Bill incorporating the amendments it has offered so far, the minister said: “The government honestly wants to talk, talk in detail. If the farmers can highlight issues on which they have doubts or suspicion, we are willing to discuss. They should tell us where does it hurt the farmers.”

____________________________

Jai Sen

Independent researcher, editor; Senior Fellow at the School of International Development and Globalisation Studies at the University of Ottawa

jai.sen at cacim.net <mailto:jai.sen at cacim.net> &  <mailto:jsen at uottawa.ca>jsen at uottawa.ca <mailto:jsen at uottawa.ca>
Now based in Ottawa, Canada, on unsurrendered Anishinaabe territory (+1-613-282 2900) and in New Delhi, India (+91-98189 11325)

Check out something new – including for copies of the first two books below, at a discount, and much more : The Movements of Movements <https://movementsofmovements.net/>
Jai Sen, ed, 2017 – The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us Move ?.  New Delhi : OpenWord and Oakland, CA : PM Press.  Ebook and hard copy available at PM Press <http://www.pmpress.org/>; hard copy only also at The Movements of Movements <https://movementsofmovements.net/>
Jai Sen, ed, 2018a – The Movements of Movements, Part 2 : Rethinking Our Dance.  Ebook and hard copy available at PM Press <http://www.pmpress.org/>; hard copy only also at The Movements of Movements <https://movementsofmovements.net/>
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