Democracy, Protest and the Masterstroke

 "Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state has become lawless or corrupt."

- Mahatma Gandhi

In a historic turn of events, the unimaginable happened. The controversial farm laws that were passed in perhaps the most controversial fashion have been promised to be repealed in the next parliament session by the very government that seemed the most stubborn to not do so. For over a year, the farmers mainly from the states of Punjab, Haryana and Bihar have been protesting at the borders of the capital state Delhi demanding the same and their voice finally seems to have been echoing through the walls of the authorities. Or at least, we have been made to believe so. How did a government as stubborn as the present one decide to come down to its knees especially at a time when the protests have moved down to small sized columns from the front pages is one of those questions that have been missed amidst the rush of mittai distribution of victory. While writers, journalists, ex Chief Justices and many other veterans in social sciences have expressed the dangers of the fascist ideologies that India is adopting, it is quite unexpected to see the same government responsible for those to take a completely contrary stand and listen to its people. The ultimate question of were there any ulterior motives have already been provided with answers by the netizens of this great nation.

Courtesy : Time Magazine 

The upcoming U.P and Punjab Elections and the set back the BJP faced from the by-poll elections are some of the vital factors that has brought this dramatic change to not just any government but one of the most stubborn of all democratic governments in the world today. These are facts that many of the politics observing people on the internet have already pointed out to. The actual question that needs to be asked is about the idea of protests and how effective are they in today's India given the fact that it took almost 500 days and 600+ human lives to get here and above all, was it really just the protests that gave a victory to the farmers. There have been classic examples of civil disobedience throughout the course of history that has changed the shape of democracy into what we see and feel today. However, in post independent India, or rather in post 2014 India, protests have been in at an all time high and the global attention received for the same has also been up in numbers while the numbers of those protests that has been resolved are highly contrasting to that of the former. The fuel prices in the country have broke its own records as every other day passed and the protests for the same from common people were far less today while compared to the initial days of the rise. It was as if the citizens had accepted their fate and have chosen to cohabit with the rising prices of the daily necessities but the pro party people never chose to back down from it and decided to take their protests to the streets. Surprisingly, the prices came down soon after and there was no precedent of such an event happening ever before. The praises and the victory slogans of the protest where high up in the air but at the end of the day it needs to be remembered that it was right after the party in power had one of its biggest set back in the by-poll just days prior. So what made it happen, protests or election fears? To state another example with fuel itself, for a period of close to a month during the state legislative assembly elections in four states, there was a cease in the rise of fuel prices and it resumed its rise right after the day of elections.

Courtesy : Indian Express

Looking at the protest numbers in the post independent India, it has never shown any downward trend in the graphs. Yet, amicable solutions for the same has never been found in most of them. Hadn't the honorable supreme court intervened at times, there wouldn't have been even head turns by the government in power to protests like that of the farmers. Were the protests not loud enough or were 100 lives too less of a sacrifice to gain the attention they deserved? Were the COVID numbers in our country not high enough for the government to take notice of the protests that had almost a million members? It is crystal clear that it wasn't the protests or sacrifices of the farmers that made the government take such a decision but fear of losing power. The by-poll set back and the surveys indicating a possible loss in U.P are the chief contributors to it. Sure, protests aren't the most useless things today. It gives out an opinion of the people to the world and to every single of those privileged persons sitting back at home about how a policy is affecting the common man but those opinions and cries almost never reach the ears of those in power. Just by having the privilege to choose a leader through elections alone doesn't make a nation democratic. The right to speak, the right to raise questions, the right to protest along with the right to be heard shall make a country democratic. 

The shrinking down of the people's voice to only the day of voting is the sign of democratic values being wiped out slowly. If protests turn out to be just a group of people venting against a wall, then that isn't a protest. If protests turn out to be mere vandalization of public property then that isn't a protest. If protests turn out to be only disruption of people's lives, then that isn't a protest. If protests are only heard with the fear of elections, then that protest wasn't a success. Yes, the laws shall be repealed and the farmers can now go back home soon. But was this a victory in a true democratic sense? Would the deaths of those hundreds during the protest effect the upcoming elections or would that be blind sided with this masterstroke?