For close to a year, the three contentious farm laws were an important aspect of the opposition parties' attacks on the Narendra Modi government. Even as they were not allowed to occupy centrestage at the farmers' protests against the controversial legislation. They played the role of cheerleaders, seeking to amplify the noise around the agitation and using it to try and corner the ruling dispensation.
The surprise announcement by PM Modi about his government's intent to repeal the contentious farm legislation comes as a mixed bag for the opposition parties. While they would want to claim credit for the move and project the development as a victory for the voices opposed to Modi and the BJP, they have to come to terms with the potential end of the farmers' unrest that was promising to become the meeting point for various issues on which the people were seen as getting disenchanted with the government.
The farmers' agitation provided the opposition parties with ample opportunity to attack the Modi regime. If former Congress president Rahul Gandhi led a tractor rally in Punjab and followed it up with a surprise tractor ride to Parliament, the death of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri after they were allegedly mowed down by a vehicle driven by the son of a Union minister, provided AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra with an occasion to register the presence of her party on the electoral scene in Uttar Pradesh. Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee despatched leaders to Delhi's borders to express solidarity with the agitating farmers. Aam Aadmi Party's National Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal fasted for the farmers' cause. Various state assemblies passed resolutions rejecting the farm laws. And within Parliament, there was an extraordinary show of unity in the opposition ranks on the issue.
The opposition parties were prompt in claiming victory when Modi announced that the farm laws would be repealed. The Congress fished out a video of Rahul Gandhi declaring some months ago that the Modi government would be forced to withdraw the legislation. The Trinamool Congress recalled the time its MPs went to Singhu border to be with the agitating farmers. The AAP was quick to point out that it has from the very start of the protest last year supported the farmers.
The anti-BJP bloc would be looking to claim the high moral ground in the coming session of Parliament. An emboldened opposition would want fireworks in the Winter Session as the government places its intent to repeal the three farm laws on the floor of the house. For these parties, an important takeaway from the government's decision to roll back the farm laws is that they now have solid evidence of Modi not being infallible, and would want to build on it.
“The government is wrong in thinking that it has done the farmers any favour. It has a lot of answering to do about the hardship faced by the farmers. Around 700 people died. The government will have to answer questions regarding that in the coming Parliament session,” said Sukhendu Sekhar Roy of the Trinamool Congress.
It is also clear to the opposition parties that there is immense potential in street protests, especially those launched by apolitical forces, to unsettle the Modi government. According to a Congress leader, the development shows that the party needs to hit the streets in a big way on other issues such as price rise and unemployment, riding on the momentum of the perceived victory of the voices opposed to the farm policies of the Modi regime.
The Congress has decided to go to town over the Modi government's allegedly anti-farmer policies and economic issues such as inflation and joblessness. It plans to hold a rally in the national capital coinciding with the upcoming Winter Session of Parliament. The rally, which will be a culmination of the party's ongoing 'Jan Jagran Yatra', will be addressed by senior leaders, led by party president Sonia Gandhi.
Meanwhile, even as the opposition parties seek to use the backtracking by Modi to turn popular perception in their favour, they are aware that the move will have an impact on the electoral scene vis-a-vis the upcoming round of Assembly polls, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. They know that they would be required to rework their strategy with regard to the farmers' issues. These parties would also have to be up to the task to counter the BJP's efforts to spin the rollback in their favour, use it to blunt the farmers' ire and return to its traditional theme of Hindutva.
“Many people will even say that the BJP government took back the laws not because they were worried for the farmers but because elections are going to happen in five states. It will be said that they are worried about their vote share in these states and they have taken the decision only because of electoral considerations,” said Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda.
The anti-BJP bloc also claims that while the demand for repeal of the farm laws ceases to be an issue, farmers' distress is still something that will be talked about. It is felt that the message that has gone down is that the BJP's thinking with regard to farmers' interests is insensitive and it is pointed out by BJP's rival parties that the person whose son allegedly mowed down farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri in UP is still a member of Modi's council of ministers.
“We held kisan panchayats in UP in the last one year and sought to give an agitation that was a social movement a political edge. The farmers know who stood by them in the last one year. The government cannot hope to win over the farmers with the repeal of the three laws. You cannot first hurt and then apply balm and hope for everything to be okay,” said Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary.
For the opposition, the government's U-turn on farm laws presents both an opportunity and a challenge.
