While the government sponsored parade will be held on the Rajpath (king’s road), the Tractor Parade will passthrough a new route. The two rally will underline the war of identity. While the Modi government is determined to make the farmers kneel down before him, the farmers are steadfast in asserting their identity.

There is yet another difference between the two parades. While the President of India, Ramnath Kovind will watch the government sponsored parade, he will not be witness to the farmers’ rally. Indeed a paradox, he will miss the celebration of the farmers, who are supposed to be the main architects of the modern India.

The spirit behind creation of Constitution has a long legacy and also a history. Even Kovind in his address delivered on January 26 last year had observed; “Seven decades ago, on 26th January, our Constitution came into effect. Even before that, this date had acquired special significance. India had been celebrating 'PurnaSwaraj Day' on every 26th January from 1930 to 1947. That is why, in 1950 the Constitution was implemented and India came to be recognised as a Republic on the 26th January, affirming to the principles laid down in our Constitution. Since then, every year we celebrate our Republic Day on 26th January. The people comprise the State. 'We the People' are the prime movers of the Republic. With us, the people of India rests the real power to decide our collective future.”

Looking back it is really painful to watch that the party to which once Kovind belonged before becoming President has been unleashing all kind of repression on the people for whom the Constitution is more than any religious epic. Last year Kovind has observed that under 'PradhanmantriKisanSammanNidhi', more than 14 crore farmer families have become entitled to receive minimum annual income of Rupees six thousand. This has enabled the farmers who feed us to live a life of dignity. But the same farmers who feed us are lurching on the borders of Delhi and are being subjected all kind of ill treatment by the BJP governments of India and Uttar Pradesh.

Last year Kovind has also emphasised; “As our Republic Day is a celebration of our Constitution, let me conclude with the words of its chief architect, Babasaheb Ambedkar: "If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but also in fact, what must we do? The first thing in my judgment we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives." The crude fact is the Modi government and even the state government of Uttar Pradesh have forgotten their obligations to these social and economic objectives.

Last year while he was addressing the nation, India was seeing the agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Now, thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at the borders of Delhi for more than two months, demanding the Centre repeal the three farm laws. For the second year in a row, Republic Day celebrations in the national capital will be held under the shadow of raging protests against laws passed by the Centre. In 2020, it was the agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). This year’s Republic Day parade will also be the first major public event in pandemic times. Already nearly 140 farmers have lost their lives while observing Gandhian Satyagrah.

Significantly the parade got the nod from Delhi Police after farmers agreed to begin it only after the completion of the official parade on Rajpath and not to venture beyond areas adjoining the protest sites. The government does not trust its own people. Time has come to assess why the people have lost their faith in the Prime Minister and the government. It appears that the government has decided to rule using coercive mode of governance.

A small incident is sufficient to bare open the thinking of the government. On Sunday, just a day ahead of the tractor parade, the BJP government of Yogi Adityanath has issued instructions to its officials in all the districts to not provide diesel to the farmers protesting the three contentious agri laws. It is an open secret that Yogi treats himself above the law and Constitution. In spite of resorting anti-people policies, so far Narendra Modi has refrained from asking him to behave properly.

In his eyes the farmers are probably terrorists which is why a letter issued by the Suhwal Police in Ghazipur states that a "high alert" has been issued in Uttar Pradesh in view of the proposed January 26 'tractor parade'. The letter reportedly found pasted at a petrol pump in the region, reads, "You need to be informed that high alert has been issued in the state in view of the next 26 January 2021. Section 144 (curfew) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) is effective. Farmers are expected to conduct a 'tractor march' and other programmes at various different locations. Subsequently, there is a ban on tractor marches. In view of this, you are directed to not give oil to any tractor or to anyone in bottles or drums from January 22, 2021, to January 26, 2021, so that peace is maintained. Individuals who violate these orders will be held accountable." Little doubt the BJP government is out to crush a rightful protest.

The farmer leader RakeshTikait has asked the Yogi government to refrain from such politics but there is no denying the fact that UP government is getting ready to strike at the farmers, and obviously this decision must not have been taken without the clearance of the Union government. . According to the farmers’ leaders more than 1 lakh tractors will participate in the parade. This is a pure case of trying to malign the farmers and justify government’s dubious allegation that it is being supported by the Khalistani and Naxalites.

At least 60 farmers’ widows from Vidarbha will participate in the ongoing agitation against the Centre’s three farm laws in Delhi on Republic Day. The widows will narrate their stories and voice their protest against the farm laws. This will impart an emotional dimension to the observance of this people’s Republic Day. (IPA Service)