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Farmers are starting their own political party. I am of course, using the word farmers here casually, because it should be obvious that not all farmers are in this group. Modi could not be PM without support from farmers who we are told make up to 50-60% of our population. So a better way of saying that is some persons that claim to represent the interest of farmers are starting a political outfit.

Be that as it may, it is good news.

Why?

Farmers, at the end of the day, are an interest group. If you cut away all the tearjerker melodrama about annadata and such, conveniently forgotten by corrupt media frauds when the same farmers are agitating against dynasty ruled states, what remains is that they are an interest group. 100% legitimate interest group, but still an interest group.

Of course, farmers are of many types. There are landless farmers, or sharecroppers and farm labour, far more in number, whose interests are very different from the landed. They dont get to see much of state bonanza such as free electricity, subsidised fertilisers, loans that dont have to be repaid and ever increasing MSPs. Many toil in farms for fixed wages. They are not the ones that can gridlock the streets of Delhi with airconditioned SUVs and tractors and have pizza for lunch.

Even if you are a landed farmer, obviously where that land is and whether it has irrigation make a difference. How much is another big issue most hold land thats only about 1-2 acres. Then comes which crop you grow. Not all get MSP protection. So even within the tiny fraction of landed farmers, interests may not always align.

It is of course, 100% legitimate to espouse the cause of farmers, even if you assume the ones claiming the mantle of leadership only represent the landed, already well taken care of minority of farmers that too from one or two states.

But then there are so many interest groups!

You can slice and dice Indian society like a Rubik cube in many ways. Language, region, caste, religion are well known. Then there are youth, students, old age pensioners, urban poor, factory workers, unemployed, middle class, daily wage earners like construction workers or cobblers, small traders, SMEs, weavers and artisans theres hundreds if not thousands of such interest groups and classes, most of whom have grievances, most of which are legitimate. Indeed, when a bridge gets inaugurated by Modi, (not SoniaG of course) even boatmen that used to ferry passengers become an interest group for leftist journalists to shed tears for!

Thats where the beauty of democracy comes in!

The saying is, death is a great leveler. But so is democracy. Particularly when you are forced to move away from espousing one interest group, however large it is, and find that it is only one of the hundreds or thousands out there.

Getting into electoral politics, with aim to capture power in meaningful quantity (not just a few seats to turn into minister post for the chief or his son) means, accommodating interest groups other than your own, including those that have diametrically opposite interests.

In the unlikely event of these farmers capturing Punjab assembly majority, they still have to accommodate non-farmers and their interests. They still have to tax (somewhat) responsibly and use that money at least partially for other purposes. If not they can never get re-elected.

And in the more likely event of them getting a few seats to bargain with, or play king maker, they can still hope to score small wins for their cause along with wins for other causes by other such king makers.

But they will wake up to the reality of how complex India is, especially when you have power. And that can be sobering.

They will know that blocking trains and roads for months or years will mean they have less tax money to play with and more unemployed hitting the streets against them. At least the ones that cannot get Canadian visa.

And the fact that only a few can become leaders or ministers means at least some of these farmers will seek their fortunes in other parties, bringing their agendas with them. They cannot be suddenly de-legitimised, although corrupt media will still try if they choose to align with BJP.

So let us say three cheers and welcome farmers to the arena of democracy!

Originally published by the author on substack, republished with permission. You could read the original articlehere.

Read more:
Farmer groups, politics and democracy: Why the new political outfit is one of the best news in recent times - OpIndia