Farmers in no mood to forgive despite Modi's U-turn on reforms

In the village of Mohraniya in Uttar Pradesh, peasant Gursevak Singh said that he and others like him had lost faith in the BJP

Farmer Gursevak Singh warned that the government could pay a price for its treatment of them.: File photo

Reuters   |   Mohraniya (Uttar Pradesh)   |  21.11.21: Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have caved into farmers’ demands that he scraps laws they say threaten their livelihoods.

 But the reaction to the shock U-turn in Uttar Pradesh, where Modi’s BJP faces key elections next year, has been less than positive, a worrying sign for a leader seeking to maintain his grip on national politics.

 In the village of Mohraniya, some 500km by road east of New Delhi and located in Uttar Pradesh, farmer Gursevak Singh said that he and others like him had lost faith in Modi and his party.

“Today Prime Minister Modi realised that he was committing a blunder, but it took him a year to recognise this and only because he now knows farmers will not vote for his party ever again,” Singh said.

For the young farmer, the matter is deeply personal.

Singh’s 19-year-old brother Gurvinder was killed in October when a jeep ploughed into a crowd returning from a protest.

“Today I can announce that my brother is a martyr,” Singh told Reuters, weeping as he held a picture of his dead brother.

“My brother is among those brave farmers who sacrificed their lives to prove that the government was implementing laws to destroy the agrarian economy,” he added.

Around him were several police officers, who Singh said were provided after his brother and three other farmers were killed by a jeep owned by Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni. Mishra’s son Ashish is in police custody in relation to the incident.

Mishra said at the time that his son was not at the site and that a car driven by “our driver” had lost control and hit the farmers after “miscreants” pelted it with stones and attacked it with sticks and swords.

Leaders of six farmer unions who spearheaded the movement in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab states said they would not forgive a government that labelled protesting farmers as terrorists and anti-nationals.

“Farmers were beaten with sticks, rods and detained for demanding legitimate rights... farmers were mowed down by a speeding car belonging to a minister’s family... tell me how can we forget it all?” said Sudhakar Rai, a senior member of a farmers’ union in Uttar Pradesh.

Farmers like Singh warned that the government could pay a price for its treatment of them.

“We are the backbone of the country and Modi has today accepted that his policies were against farmers,” said Singh.

“I lost my brother in this mess and no one can bring him back.”