Farmers’ protests and Tripura teachers’ protests remain unresolved. Enakshi critiques political bigotry, deaf ears, and a failing democracy. An exclusive for Different Truths.

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” ~ Elie Wiesel

Democracy is, quite literally, the rule of the people because the policies, leadership, and epoch-making decisions are directly or indirectly decided by the people. But this is easier said than done, for in our country the voice of the people is merely a voice in the wilderness. When the government comes out with new laws or reforms, it does not ask the people to give their views or opinion about the same. Instead, people are expected to follow what the government wants them to do. The #farmers’protest proves this right.

More than 60% of India’s population depends on farming as it is their main source of income. With the new farming laws that state that the government’s role in farming will considerably become lesser and the involvement of private sectors will increase, the farmers have been left with no other option than to protest for their cause. With the abolishment of APS mandis, the farmers will be forced to sell their crop to the corporate companies at a lower price. Due to this, the crops will not be bought at MSP.

The farmers also fear falling prey to the fraudulent companies and becoming slaves to the corporate giants. When the laws were passed by the Monsoon Session of the Parliament last year in September, the farmers, majorly from the states of Punjab and Haryana, began the sit-in protest in an attempt to make the government listen to their pleas. This has been going on for over five months.

Still, there has been no consensus reached. The government is playing the armchair critic and delaying their response to this issue. The farmers have just recently restored to more violent means. Now, barricading, lathi charge, the release of tear gas, using 13-layer protection and barbed wires – all this has become common at the Delhi border.

The issue is gathering the attention of world media but even then, nobody is helping the common people. The government is reluctant to listen to them. Instead, the political parties are grabbing this chance to vomit hate speeches and win back their lost supporters. In the process, the country is being mocked at a global level.

Another issue that proves that the political bigotry and the falling democracy are interlinked is that of the teachers in Tripura. The High Court of Tripura terminated 10,323 teachers citing their faulty recruitment process, in 2014. Nine months after losing their job, the former teachers began an indefinite sit-in protest demanding the state government to provide a permanent solution for their crisis. These teachers met with the CM and were promised a quick resolution but when no resolution was provided, they continued with their protests. Consequently, force, in the form of tear gas, lathi charge, and Section 144, was used to silence the voices. The issue still has not reached a closure.

These are just two of the issues that have come in public view owing to the intensity of the protests and the failure of the force to suppress the voices. What about the Kashmiri protests which were caused by the killings of Kashmiris and the circumstances of J & K during the lockdown?

When and how those voices were silenced – nobody knows! This is not the first time that political agendas are being given more importance than the life of the common men. This is not the first time that the wrath has built up in the hearts of the men. However, the ugly truth is that our ‘democratic’ laws prevent us from becoming a ‘democratic nation’.

Problems will never end. What we ought to remember is to channelise our energy towards what is right – both morally and ethically. While people are busy working from home and cribbing about the lack of physical activity, there are others, who are on the verge of losing their livelihood. Their situation can only improve if they gather the support of several others and make their voice heard.

Standing for what is right is not embarrassing but remaining a mute witness to something that is wrong is worse. It is time that we all compromise on our creature comforts and make a beginning towards a more harmonious society.

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Enakshi J

Enakshi is an educator, an author and a traveller. She loves to learn. Her writings have appeared in The Speaking Tree (Times of India), Woman’s Era, Alive, Infitithoughts, SivanaSpirit, Women’s Web, EfictionIndia and Induswomanwriting. She is an eminent book reviewer and she reviews books by Penguin, Rupa and Hachette India. Her stories and poems have been anthologised widely. She conceptualized two books- ‘Unbounded Trajectories’ and ‘Poison Ivy’.

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