He has apologised to the nation for all that happened in the name of what the farmers consider patently as the three black laws. But he has not conceded that the laws as such are bad. He has only accepted his failure to convince ‘some of our farmer brothers’ about the truth about the laws. That is fine. In the light of what we know of Modi’s ways, this is not a small climb down.

But this must not obfuscate the fact that the farm laws and the agitation that the farmers have been carrying on for the past 14 months have caused tremendous loss to the nation, including loss of precious lives. It obviously leads to the question as to who should one appropriate responsibility for this. In terms of economic cost alone, over Rs 70,000 crore is estimated to have been lost in the December quarter owing to supply chain disruptions, particularly in Punjab, Haryana and border areas of Delhi, according to the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Transport minister NitinGadkari had told parliament that the farmers protest against new farm bills had led to Rs 815 croreloss in road toll collection alone till March.

Apart from the specific economic costs, the agitation and the developments relating to it have held back the nation from a possible faster recovery from the bigger pandemic-induced bigger crisis. It was clear from the day the black laws were brought in through the back door in terms of parliamentary procedures that the farmers are not going to accept this. Apart from the economic impact, the laws had a larger emotional quotient, which even struck a chord with the Sikh identity as the imagery evoked by the mention of Indian farmer is that of turbaned Sikh. In this respect, it was no coincidence the Prime Minister had chosen Guru Nanak Jayanti day to express his ‘apology’ because the new laws had tended to be interpreted as an affront to the Sikh identity, intertwined between economic, religious and cultural interests and practices. And this meant that it had huge repercussions not just in Punjab, but large areas outside the state, including Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, crucial states that will decide the fate of post 2024-India.

Modi insists the laws were not bad and that probably some gaps in his ‘tapasya’ may have led to the famers feeling suspicious about them. But that raises a very serious issue. Modi says he only had the welfare of farmers at heart in pushing ahead with the laws. But welfare is not something that can be forced upon anyone. The recipient has to be ready to receive the benefaction, a principle that is enshrined even in the vedas, just as the gospels say ‘cast no pearls before swine’. If the supposed beneficiaries don’t want something, so be it. There is no way such things can be forced down someone’s throat.

Modi’s wisdom has come 14 months too late, which was eminently avoidable. Acceptance of guilt after the commission of an act does no good. The realisation that ‘some of the farmer brothers’ are unable to see the truth should have prompted a change of mind in good time. But that was not to be and the nation has had to pay a price.

The same thing had happened with demonetisation too. It required the sacrifice of thousands of lives, millions of livelihoods and billions of rupees in terms of economic loss for the realisation that demonetization cannot work. But this knowledge was readily available, but the Prime Minister chose not to see it. By the time he realised it won’t work, it was too late and the clock had to be a few years back for the nation, its economy and the people.

The next in the unending sequence was Covid, which was not an India-centric development, and therefore unavoidable. But it could have been managed better, which was in human hands. The untimely and impulsive national lockdown ensured that the economy, which was on the path of recovery from the devastation caused by demonetization was dealt another crippling blow, with the nation, its economy and the people being forced to claw back to the start of another man-made crisis. And it took all the trouble and sacrifice similar to the demonetization misadventure to realise that lockdown was not the best way out, by which time the nation has had to pay another heavy price.

And now the sequence has continued in the form of the farm laws, with the same consequences for the nation, the economy and the people and not just the farmers, for whom the new laws were supposedly meant for. That lesson has also been learnt by now.

It has been an unending story and the suspense now seems to be on what next. (IPA Service)