It would be euphemistic to state that millions were taken by surprise when the Supreme Court of India decided to stay the implementation of the constitutionally passed three farm bills introduced by the Modi government.
Shocked, rather than surprised, would perhaps be a more befitting expression - as some may like to put it - after the Apex Court temporarily laid off the reformist agricultural laws that have evoked a caustic anarchist movement in India backed by extremists and the left-liberal lobby.
In effect, the Government of India is forbidden for the time being from proceeding with any executive actions to enforce the three laws: The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act.
Be that as it may, the flip side to the Supreme Court’s take - calling its stay order “extraordinary” and a “victory for fair play” - on a matter that has escalated rather acrimoniously in the last couple of months, a majority public mood finds itself in favour of the new agricultural laws. Not to mention that the ongoing ruckus and blackmail is an absolute travesty of the farmers’ movement.
image source : livelaw.in
The bona fide Indian intelligentsia with a nationalistic leaning is worried about the onset of a vicious pattern following the anarchist camp’s attempt to portray the SC’s decision as a vindication of their demands and the victory of their so-called protest. So does this signal the ushering in of a new era in which any progressive law passed by the Parliament will be forced to get a nod from the judiciary merely because certain legislation is not palatable to the agents of self-serving propaganda?… Should it become a pattern, it would be unbecoming for the world’s biggest democracy.
Whether it is appropriate for experts and commentators to question or criticise the judiciary’s wisdom on the farm laws is debatable. But it is significant to understand the series of events that led to such unprecedented rancour on the borders of the national capital due to which the highest court of the country may be have deemed it right to shelve the legislation for now to ensure public harmony. The devil, as they say, is in the detail and one simply cannot afford to overlook these details which reek of deceit and duplicity.
A sham agitation sponsored and supported by the left-liberal lobby, the united anti-Modi opposition and the Khalistani extremists which was subsequently echoed by the Award-Wapsi brigade left no stone unturned to accomplish the malicious job of holding the government to ransom in a chaotic display of obstinacy and intimidation. So much so that the protesting farmers' groups such as the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) refused to participate in any proceedings of an appointed committee to resolve the crisis over the three farm laws, as suggested by the Supreme Court.
Republic Day mayhem
For weeks the clouds of a potentially disruptive tractor rally, organised by agitating farmers’ groups and meant to bring New Delhi to a standstill on Republic Day, hovered over the national capital. On the day, absolute mayhem unfolded on the streets of Delhi and its borders. Scores of tractors, carrying hundreds of mobsters brandishing swords and rods, broke barricades and invaded into prohibited zones in New Delhi. Policemen were attacked and public property was damaged. There was pandemonium everywhere.
It is as audacious as it is ridiculous that the demonic ambassadors of anarchy could muster the courage to threaten India on a day that marks the very identity and essence of this country. This naked display of criminality by the so-called peaceful protestors on India’s Republic Day is a watershed moment. It is an open provocation to India and the Indian Government. What can be more disconcerting than witnessing a section of the country’s own people jeopardising their own Republic Day in a bid to continue blackmailing the government into accepting their unreasonable and egotistical demands?
image source : opindia.com
Therefore, at the cost of sounding preachy, one could argue that the morbid Shaheen Bagh developments up to the progressing farmers’ agitation/anarchist chaos beckon the courts of the country to take note of the unabated spread of anarchist movements in India. The looming fear is that with a gamut of reformist laws, just like the farm laws, expected to be introduced by the Modi government in near future - the leftist-extremist lobby could see misusing the judiciary as a catalyst to realise their malicious goals. A dangerous pattern has emerged in the post-Shaheen Bagh anti-CAA era by virtue of which propagandists expect undue latitude from the judiciary and see it as a vindication of their “right to dissent”, even if the dissent is based on flimsy grounds.
The idea behind the above argument is not to suggest that the Indian judiciary is vulnerable to connivance and chicanery. But it cannot be denied that when a propagandist movement - masquerading as a peoples’ protest - gains momentum by garnering support through fake emotional appeal, it may deliver an undue impact even on the greatest and the brightest of legal minds engaged in finding a relevant solution that puts the acrimony to rest and ceases the stalemate between the government and the agitators. The last thing this nation wants is the employment of indirect pressure tactics to manipulate the judiciary.
The lobby, which has been shooting off the protesting farmers’ shoulders, has been relentless in its effort to present the Supreme Court’s stay order as an affirmation of their ‘farm laws brought by the Government of India are anti-farmer in nature’ theory. Although nothing could be further from the truth as the Supreme Court’s stay order has nothing to do with the constitutionality or legality of the farm laws, the situation has only deteriorated since then.
image source : indiatvnews.com
In the aftermath of Republic Day violence at the hands of the anarchists, it will be interesting to see whether the Supreme Court takes suo moto cognizance of the matter and keeps a tab on the perpetration of violent activities by the agitators, as normality has not restored at all following the Apex Court’s stay order on the farm laws. The situation could escalate in the coming days after an announcement made by the protesting groups to march to the Parliament on February 1.
Those who cherish the idea of a stable India, a reformist and a nationalistic India - expect the Supreme Court and the higher courts of India to lend attention to the great disservice being done to Constitutional practices through protests which are choreographed to destabilise the government and undermine the sanctity of the Parliament.
