(Written by Javed Iqbal Wani)
In the past year, farmers have demonstrated the force of popular determination against an arrogant and defiant government. The farmers movement has proved that the revolutionary spirit of the peasant had not diminished with the arrival of new networks of capital. It has established that peasant consciousness in the country remains intellectually sharp, socially sensitive and politically militant. As opposed to the image of the peasant as a marginal figure in history, the recent farmer protests have proved that they remain very much central to the discourse of democracy in India.
The tone of the Prime Ministers address on November 20, 2021, while announcing the decision to repeal the three farm laws highlighted his uneasiness with farmers victory and laid bare his refusal to admit that their perseverance has crumbled his pride. The Prime Minister has time and again resorted to imagery of the ascetic (faqir) to make his political posturing acceptable to a wider public. He aspires to gain a superior moral authority to conceal the shortcomings of his myopic politics. His reference to his own politics as tapasya (devotion/penance) requires some probing. When a government with all the power and authority at its disposal fails to crush a democratic and popular movement, it speaks volumes of the discipline and dedication of the movement. In the spirit of democracy and justice, it was the farmers whose protest deserves to be called a tapasya, because it brought back many foregone frameworks of inclusive and democratic politics in the face of various hardships. As opposed to riots becoming an increasingly dominant expression of collective action in India, the farmers movement made rights and inclusion in democratic decision-making the source of energy for itself. Against endless negative propaganda, police brutality, and shaming in the name of a religion, the farmers stood firm and responded with clarity, sincerity and steadfastness.
It is pertinent to note that the revolutionary spirit of the farmers was registered by the ruling dispensation as reactionary and anti-national only a little while ago. It is an improvement that the Prime Minister has recently declared them vacuous. His recent address declaring the repeal of the three farm laws put the onus of misunderstanding on farmers. If one pays attention to the layers of the Prime Ministers political message, his delayed apology does not appear to be aimed at addressing the suffering of the farmers but to make palatable the inability of his political power to achieve its goal. However, in the end, the determination of the democratic and popular outran the arrogance of those in power.
The farmers have instilled our confidence in some of the forgotten lessons in popular politics. The authority of the people never gets exhausted by the government. Governments tend to see popular protests as politically unsavoury and unjustified. However, popular politics unravels collective responsibility because it demands a response from the people, civil society, and the state. It provides agency to democracy because it makes the democratic and popular active rather than just being there, dependent on an institutional outside that is increasingly controlled and partial to the ruling dispensation.
As opposed to an increasing trend of populist politics which is inward-looking and exclusionary in nature, democratic politics is outward-looking and not threatened by inclusion. In fact, inclusion is the ethic of democratic politics. Mere dependence on jingoist nationalism where defining, classifying, humiliating, and exterminating imagined threats is the primary agenda leads to the obfuscation of real challenges that the polity faces. Popular democratic uprisings, in contrast, challenge ethnic visions of a nation, confront the narrow view that only unidirectional movement of institutional decision-making deserves legitimacy. Democratic politics steer the discourse back to the people by way of questioning legitimacy and authority and celebrating diversity and difference. On November 27, 2021, with the passing of the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021, and the various subsequent written assurances from the government on the critical issue of MSP and protection from punitive measures against protestors, the farmers victory was etched in the annals of history. By ensuring the repeal of the three farm bills, the farmers have done a great service (seva) to the nation not only by saving the peasantry but democracy itself. The protesting farmers at Delhis borders and elsewhere have returned to their homes, leaving behind an assurance in the end, democracy has defeated despotism.
(The writer is currently an assistant professor at Ambedkar University, Delhi)
See the original post here:
Farmers and the defeat of populism - The Indian Express
- The media must not give African leaders platforms to spout homophobia it only helps their populism - Open Democracy [Last Updated On: February 1st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2021]
- The AltFi view on Gamestonk: Populism is coming to fintech - AltFi [Last Updated On: February 1st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2021]
- Robinhood fiasco shows that populist movement was right all along Robinhood fiasco and the populist movement - Invezz [Last Updated On: February 1st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2021]
- The Century of Populism 01/30/2021 World KSU | The Sentinel Newspaper - KSU | The Sentinel Newspaper [Last Updated On: February 1st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2021]
- Rupa Subramanya: Trudeau is a left-wing populist who may have bought himself the next election - National Post [Last Updated On: February 1st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2021]
- Reddit fever may open a new populist front that the elites can't stop - Telegraph.co.uk [Last Updated On: February 1st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2021]
- Budget expectations: Will fiscal discipline trump populist demands? - Mint [Last Updated On: February 1st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2021]
- Europe's Populists Ready to Seize on COVID Vaccination Bungle - Voice of America [Last Updated On: February 1st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2021]
- Why both parties pushed their populist messaging around GameStop and Robinhood - Business Insider - Business Insider [Last Updated On: February 1st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2021]
- The other contagion: Why the US Capitol attack is a warning to populists - European Council on Foreign Relations [Last Updated On: February 1st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2021]
- The Problems With Populism Go Well Beyond Donald Trump - The Dispatch [Last Updated On: February 1st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2021]
- Republicans in Washington warn Wall Street: The GameStop populists are more powerful than you think - CNBC [Last Updated On: February 1st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2021]
- The Grassroots Organizers Hoping to Move Manchin in a More Populist Direction - The New Republic [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2021]
- RPT-COLUMN-Populist crowd fails to breach the silver fortress for now: Andy Home - Yahoo Finance [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2021]
- What Happened to the Emerging Democratic Majority? - Fair Observer [Last Updated On: February 20th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 20th, 2021]
- Divided over Draghi, Italy's 5-Star has an identity crisis - Reuters [Last Updated On: February 20th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 20th, 2021]
- Guest Column: Is There A Place For Conservative Populism In America? - FITSNews [Last Updated On: February 20th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 20th, 2021]
- The American 'Populist Right' After Trump - The Wire [Last Updated On: February 20th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 20th, 2021]
- Blow up the outside world - newframe.com [Last Updated On: December 14th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 14th, 2021]
- Time to get canvassing for the wide world is out there waiting for us - The National [Last Updated On: December 14th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 14th, 2021]
- Economics, Finance, Populism, and the Fed: An Interview With David Bahnsen - Foundation for Economic Education [Last Updated On: December 14th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 14th, 2021]
- Geographies of Populism and the End of the Afghanistan War - Telos Press [Last Updated On: December 14th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 14th, 2021]
- Despite the polls, a centrist could win Colombia's election in May - The Economist [Last Updated On: December 14th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 14th, 2021]
- French Populist Eric Zemmour Vows 'We Will Not Let Them ... [Last Updated On: December 14th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 14th, 2021]
- The PopuList [Last Updated On: December 14th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 14th, 2021]
- Presidential Election of 1896 - 270toWin.com [Last Updated On: December 14th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 14th, 2021]
- Looking back at news from a trying year - The Whittier Daily News [Last Updated On: December 27th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 27th, 2021]
- We must thank the white-coat army for saving us and the world - Al Jazeera English [Last Updated On: December 27th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 27th, 2021]
- 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections: Major political parties vying to win support of women - Hindustan Times [Last Updated On: December 27th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 27th, 2021]
- lancasteronline.com [Last Updated On: December 27th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 27th, 2021]
- ric Zemmour Is Another Right-Wing Fake Populist Created by Corporate Media - Jacobin magazine [Last Updated On: December 27th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 27th, 2021]
- A Philosopher in Hard Times - lareviewofbooks [Last Updated On: December 27th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 27th, 2021]
- It's populist and unethical Oware-Aboagye slams Dampare for obeying traffic regulations - GhanaWeb [Last Updated On: December 27th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 27th, 2021]
- A Package of Populist Deregulation - Econlib [Last Updated On: December 27th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 27th, 2021]
- Pakistan's new fault lines: Political polarisation and defiance of institutions - asianews.network [Last Updated On: May 12th, 2022] [Originally Added On: May 12th, 2022]
- Johnson is neither a charismatic failure nor a tragic figure. He hasn't made the political weather simply because he has been oversold - British... [Last Updated On: May 12th, 2022] [Originally Added On: May 12th, 2022]
- Your brothers keeper - Philstar.com [Last Updated On: May 12th, 2022] [Originally Added On: May 12th, 2022]
- 'Populist hobby horses rather than tackling the cost of living crisis' Mayor responds to Queen's Speech - Hackney Citizen [Last Updated On: May 12th, 2022] [Originally Added On: May 12th, 2022]
- Republicans learned some of their political tactics from watching Democrats - Washington Examiner [Last Updated On: May 12th, 2022] [Originally Added On: May 12th, 2022]
- Canada's Noxious Conservatives Are Duking It Out for Party Leadership - Jacobin magazine [Last Updated On: May 12th, 2022] [Originally Added On: May 12th, 2022]
- Letters to the editor: May 6: 'Pierre Poilievre is making a populist statement that the government plans to control society.' Politics and digital... [Last Updated On: May 12th, 2022] [Originally Added On: May 12th, 2022]
- Communist Youth Leaguethats where Xi sees a political challenge coming from. Hes taming it - ThePrint [Last Updated On: May 12th, 2022] [Originally Added On: May 12th, 2022]
- What Doug Ford's shift to the centre says about the longevity of populism - National Post [Last Updated On: May 12th, 2022] [Originally Added On: May 12th, 2022]
- Russian Populist Columnist Popov: In Demolishing Monuments To Soviet War Dead, Ukraine Is Siding With 'Sanitized' Fascism Of 'Credit Slavery,' 'LGBT... [Last Updated On: May 12th, 2022] [Originally Added On: May 12th, 2022]
- Opinion | What J.D. Vances Primary Win Says About Populism and Resentment in the G.O.P. - The New York Times [Last Updated On: May 12th, 2022] [Originally Added On: May 12th, 2022]
- Populist Party - Ohio History Central [Last Updated On: May 12th, 2022] [Originally Added On: May 12th, 2022]
- Evidence from the gilets jaunes: Which candidates win the support of populist voters? - London School of Economics [Last Updated On: May 12th, 2022] [Originally Added On: May 12th, 2022]
- Kari Lake Reveals Why She Is So Popular - The Future of the Populist ... [Last Updated On: May 12th, 2022] [Originally Added On: May 12th, 2022]
- Truss and Sunak face Sky grilling as Bank warns of long recession as it happened - The Guardian [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2022]
- The BBC is not a luxury in a cost of living crisis, it's more essential than ever - iNews [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2022]
- Kari Lake wins Republican nomination for Arizona governor - The Arizona Republic [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2022]
- Arizona House and Senate lineup could impact your life more than the governor's race - The Arizona Republic [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2022]
- The Very Good People of Kansas - City Watch [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2022]
- Jim Jordan Tells GOP To Tee Up And Embrace Populism For 2024 - Daily Caller [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2022]
- All aboard the populist bandwagon - BusinessLIVE [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2022]
- Podemos: party of struggles or populist operation from above? - International Viewpoint [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2022]
- Lucas Kunce: Populism is about everyday people coming together - The Guardian US [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2022]
- Can the people rule in Arkansas? Defeating an anti-populist amendment this year is key - Arkansas Times [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2022]
- Emotional Mobilization in Chinese Online bottom-up Populism - Novinite.com [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2022]
- Conservatives See Soft Spot in Trumps Populist Armor: Handling of COVID - RealClearPolitics [Last Updated On: December 6th, 2022] [Originally Added On: December 6th, 2022]
- Populist gegenpressing: Why the EU shouldn't expect Orban to back off - European Council on Foreign Relations [Last Updated On: December 11th, 2023] [Originally Added On: December 11th, 2023]
- Populist legacy will weigh on Poland's next government - Branson Tri-Lakes news [Last Updated On: December 11th, 2023] [Originally Added On: December 11th, 2023]
- ARGENTINA SNUBS BRICS AS ITS FIREBRAND POPULIST LEADER TAKES POWER - The Sunday Guardian [Last Updated On: December 11th, 2023] [Originally Added On: December 11th, 2023]
- Populist legacy will weigh on Poland's next government - Index-Journal [Last Updated On: December 11th, 2023] [Originally Added On: December 11th, 2023]
- Populist legacy will weigh on Poland's next government - Yahoo News [Last Updated On: December 11th, 2023] [Originally Added On: December 11th, 2023]
- Argentina's populist president meets billionaire Elon Musk in Texas and a bromance is born - Idaho Press [Last Updated On: April 16th, 2024] [Originally Added On: April 16th, 2024]
- Argentina's populist president meets billionaire Elon Musk in Texas and a bromance is born - PinalCentral [Last Updated On: April 16th, 2024] [Originally Added On: April 16th, 2024]
- Food trucks and concerts: Prinsjesdag to get populist overhaul - DutchNews.nl [Last Updated On: April 16th, 2024] [Originally Added On: April 16th, 2024]
- Letters to the editor: Ignore the populist bait of an uneconomical manufacturing dream - The Australian Financial Review [Last Updated On: April 16th, 2024] [Originally Added On: April 16th, 2024]
- The Irish Times view on Fine Gael and the Dublin Transport Plan: populist posturing The Irish Times - The Irish Times [Last Updated On: July 3rd, 2024] [Originally Added On: July 3rd, 2024]
- Why Young Voters Are Backing Populist Parties - TheTyee.ca [Last Updated On: July 3rd, 2024] [Originally Added On: July 3rd, 2024]