“Democracy doesn’t work if we constantly demonize each other….for progress to happen we have to listen to each other, see ourselves in each other, fight for our principles but also fight to find common ground, no matter how elusive it may seem”

– Barack Obama

Rihanna Fenty, Greta Thunberg, Meena Harris, Mia Khalifa are all in news this week in India. Capturing the frontpages of print, online, and social media platforms. Why were they in news? They tweeted in support of Indian Farmers’ protest. I didn’t find anything out of the ordinary here, like anyone else they just shared their opinions. Then came the communication from our External Affairs Ministry and coordinated tweets from our ministers, sports and Bollywood personalities, with the hashtags #IndiaTogether, #IndiaAgainstPropaganda, and maybe few more. This lack of sense of proportion just puzzled me. This top-heavy, lopsided reaction came across as if someone has waged a war on our borders. As far as I know, Rihanna, Greta, Meena, and Mia are not head of any states or hold any official positions of power. Rihanna is a music artiste, Greta an activist, Meena a lawyer, and Mia an actor. Then what prompted the disproportionate reaction from our official machinery and personalities? #IndiaTogether against whom? Are we together against Rihanna and Greta or against farmer? #IndiaAgainstPropaganda – against whose propaganda? Are we so insecure that we can’t handle a comment from someone outside India on farmers protest or for that matter on any other issue? Didn’t the whole world show its displeasure to US when it came to George Floyd’s miserable death and contributed to #BlackLivesMatter movement. I don’t think anyone said, ‘Oh, George Floyd is US’s internal matter and we shouldn’t interfere’. Unfortunately, these four are from foreign soils, so the government is not able to go by their playbook they follow on Indian media houses, journalists and dissenters – file sedition cases, force tweeter and FB to block accounts, let loose its enforcement wings to go after them.

Global is current local and people will share their opinions and show their solidarity when humanitarian values are violated anywhere in the world. No country is going to be immune to this. While all they did was tweet few words, are we not the ones who erected barbed wire fences, embedded spikes on the road, and put barricades? And shutdown internet communication, and water supply? How did we show our displeasure to tweets? Burning effigies of Greta, who completed 18 years last month – isn’t a reflection of our sad psychological condition. There is another facet of this reaction which is worrying too. That is the troll of personalities because they said something contrarian. We don’t know what prompted few of our sports personalities to put out tweets – it could be either under pressure or they did it on their own. But they do have the same freedom like Rihanna or Greta. Now if you are not happy with their stand, counter it with data and/or another opinion. While one may not agree with Sachin’s stand for example, that doesn’t take away his accomplishments in game of cricket and his cricket genius. Similar behavior happened with movie 800 on Muttaiah Muralitharan, where both Muralitharan and Vijay Sethupathi had to back off from the project. Resorting to personal attacks, burning effigies or filing FIRs are not the solution. It shows our intolerance to different beliefs and perspectives, inability to separate profession from personal opinions, and lack of reasoning.

One opinion doesn’t take away the professional accomplishments of a person. Similarly, one unfortunate event on Republic Day doesn’t take away the legitimacy of the farmers protest. If at all, they have shown the current generation how to hold a peaceful protest over multiple months. Through severe winter season. They have shown how to express dissent in a democratic way. Government response so far has been in the lines of ‘farmers don’t understand the intricacies of trade and we know better’ thus taking away the agency of the farmers. The way state has fortified the Capital looks like we are preparing for a war. A vibrant democracy works only if there is a healthy debate, listening, and criticism happens inside and outside the parliament and state assemblies. When it comes to farm laws it is not true only farmers from few states are protesting. Concerns exist across the country. Handful of states have passed resolutions against farm laws in assemblies. We do have an agrarian crisis with majority of the working population employed in agriculture and this protest is a great opportunity to get all the stakeholders on board, discuss, and put together a long-term framework. As a country we are in a long haul, changes will happen over multiple decades, and there is no reason to thrust big ticket reforms on a population impacted by it without their consent. Pulling back the farm laws doesn’t have to be seen with win-lose lens. It reflects state’s listening power and yes, it is easy to hit the goal post if everyone is walking in the same direction.

“I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away.”

– Mahatma Gandhi