The powers that be protest too much. This is an apt description of the pushback orchestrated by the external affairs ministry in response to a tweet by a popular international singer on the ongoing farmers’ protest. In an unprecedented step, the ministry of external affairs responded to the growing international scrutiny in a lengthy statement that urged celebrities to ascertain facts before rushing to make critical comments. This is welcome advice, but the dictum should be applicable to all. The ministry itself, it appears, has taken certain licences with facts, stating that Parliament had passed the contentious farm laws after “full debate and discussion”. India and perhaps the world know that the legislations were steamrolled ignoring the reservations of the Opposition. What is equally illustrative about the indignation of the ministry and its admirers — celebrities all — was their comprehension of sovereignty. The sovereignty of a robust democracy cannot be so brittle as to crumble in the face of a single tweet. This prickliness, a dangerous kind of intolerance for criticism, has become a signature of New India and its administration. The allergy is inimical to the health of this democracy. What strengthens democracy is — not unilateral opinion but — a nation’s ability to accommodate divergent, competing views.
There may be other reasons that explain the paranoid rebuttal. Could it be that the Centre is no longer certain that its carefully curated narrative on the farmers’ protest is having its desired effect? If that is the case, then the Narendra Modi government has itself to blame. The sustained demonization of farmers, the periodic use of force and provocation at the sites of protest and, above all, the insensitivity shown from the highest echelons of power — the Union agriculture minister said that the government will not pay any compensation to the families of those farmers who have lost their lives during the agitation — have bared the ugly truths that no amount of cheerleading on television or on social media can conceal.