Subject as it is to the vagaries of weather, farming is an uncertain business, and many countries therefore subsidize farmers in one way or another. That includes the US. So it was in India through government-run mandis (markets) that supported prices.
As ever, there are two schools of thought: those that favor some form of intervention to assist farmers against the erratic ups and downs of pricing versus those that want private markets to reign supreme with minimal government interference.
It is with the latter view that the right-wing Narendra Modi government finds common ground in its new legislation and it is what the farmers’ protests (now running for over 60 days) are about.
The farmers are mostly Sikhs from the rich grain producing region of the Punjab and their march to the famed Red Fort to plant flags was symbolic. The fort with palatial audience halls and residential areas was built by Shah Jahan of Taj Mahal fame and served the Mughals thenceforth as the Delhi residence of the Mughal Empire.
In 1857, during an uprising to throw off the British yoke, the, by now, powerless Nughal Emperor became the symbolic head of the revolt. Sikhs had been implacable enemies of the Mughals and constituted a restless and increasingly ungovernable province until they governed it themselves. So it was that the British governor of the Punjab brought in Sikh troops to aid the overextended British forces in quelling the rebellion.
Whether it is part of Modi’s Hindu nationalist agenda or not, he has a way of riling up minorities. Last year around the same time it was the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Registry of Citizens (NRO) which appeared to target Muslims and fanned protests across the country.
The CAA blatantly excluded Muslims in easing the paths to citizenship of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains, who had arrived in India from Pakistan. Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The NRC required Muslims to prove their citizenship, an impossible task for poor, uneducated people who seldom register births.
Perhaps the answer to all this mayhem lies in Mr. Modi’s origins. Born into a poor family, he was engaged as a toddler to a member of his caste and underwent a marriage ceremony at 14. He began living with his wife when he turned 17, but left abruptly after three months to go on a pilgrimage to the Himalayas,
He never returned; instead he set up a tea cart outside Ahmedabad bus station. He also found a new family in the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or Association of National Volunteers. A far-right paramilitary group founded in 1925, it modeled itself on European fascist organization. Its salute is a horizontal arm across the chest not the more vertical angle of the Nazis. And the daily routine includes a daily drill and much marching about in khaki uniforms. There dedicated zealots will in theory form the base for a new golden age of national strength and racial purity. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was founded as the political wing of the RSS. It is the ruling party in India with Mr. Modi at its head.
The central tenet of the RSS and BJP belief system is that India is a Hindu nation and minorities live in India under this acknowledgement. It was an ex-RSS man who shot and killed Gandhi because he considered him too close to the Muslims. Nehru, India’s secular first prime minister, then denounced the RSS and it shriveled. But by the 1980s, it was back. It now has forty million members under forty thousand district centers throughout the country.
Such is Modi’s India.