The Bharat bandh called by farmers’ unions protesting against the farm laws passed by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre elicited response from many parts of the country. This reaction can be read in two ways. First, the country — not its leadership — shares an emotive bond with the agrarian community. Second, the show of support is also an expression of public anger at the Centre’s shoddy handling of the crisis. The BJP, bolstered by its numerical superiority in Parliament, had passed the legislations without adequate consultations with the Opposition or, most importantly, with aggrieved farmers. Shockingly, when the protesting farmers decided to take their agitation to Delhi, the BJP — this is typical of the party — chose to not only greet them with a show of strength but also discredit the constituency. Farmers — they feed the nation — were equated with separatists and described as stooges of the political Opposition by overt and covert supporters of this regime. But the ruse seems to have backfired. Support for the farmers has intensified, pushing the government on the back foot. The dialogues, including the home minister’s request for talks yesterday afternoon, are an indication of the government ceding some ground. What has added to India’s discomfort is the international response to the protest. India’s petulant reaction to the comments by the Canadian prime minister — the external affairs minister skipped a virtual meeting on Covid-19 chaired by the foreign minister of the North American nation — did not deter Justin Trudeau from reiterating that Canada would always support the right to protest. Several British parliamentarians have expressed solidarity with the farmers and there have been sympathetic noises from lawmakers in the United States of America. The indignation in these nations can be read as part of the growing concern of the international fraternity with the authoritarian reaction of this government towards any show of dissent in a democracy. The BJP must be careful not to let matters deteriorate: it could add to India’s embarrassment.

The BJP would also be mindful of the farmers’ protest providing political oxygen to the Opposition. As many as 19 political parties lent their support to the Bharat bandh, even though the farmers’ bodies have wisely decided to keep politicians at arm’s length. Whether this mobilization costs the BJP politically — the Congress had been singed by the anti-corruption protests in 2014 — depends on the Opposition’s ability to build a broader solidarity among its squabbling partners as well as with the voters. At the moment, India’s Opposition appears to be too fragmented for this challenge. This impotency contributes to the Centre’s rigidity and aggression against its own people.