Day 67
#FarmersProtests
War of Nerves
The farmers executed their war of manoeuvre when they occupied Delhi’s borders. They settled in the war of position when talks with government began. The protests weathered the war of attrition when government started its propaganda and used its Enforcement Directorate and National Investigation Agency on leaders and volunteers. The January 26th flag fracas on Red Fort was engineered by deep state to unsettle the position the farmers had established and the moral high ground they had taken on the Farm Laws. Since the move failed, Ghazipur rising has panicked the establishment. Now propaganda is taking uglier turns.
If you can read this message, know that lakhs of farmers on protests sites cannot read it. Crores of Haryana people in 17 districts cannot read this message. Their internet is shut down. Along side this blackout, dastardly, absolutely condemnable events are being created and pictures of young Sikh men being crushed by police, heads broken, other injuries are circulating on social media. All such pictures, videos, text, statements by people and leaders are meant to provoke the Sikhs, the farmers, and those who care for them from the urban middle class. They are meant to Sikhs and the farmers so that they indulge in violence and government can unleash their forces on the protests.
Last night a journalist was picked up. Cases are being filed against journalists for saying their truth: young Navdeep on tractor was shot and he lost control and crashed and died. Cases are filed against farmer leaders. Since most urban India is now learning about rural India, you may also want to acquaint yourselves with various section of India Penal Code. They will help you learn the spectrum from which police levies changes and their relative gravity. It will help you process what is going on with greater clarity. Sangh goons attacked Singhu with full police protection. Sangh goons tried to attack Ghazipur under BJP leaders. There are no arrests, no charges, the intention is clear: wear down the protesters.
As the icy, chilly winter the farmers endured turns to spring, the government is now engaged in a war of nerves wit the whole state machinery at its disposal. Going forward, the attacks will increase and because of no internet, a pliant lapdog media, we not even know about them. A lack of connection, lack of news, can make us feel lonely. We could feel bereft and clutching at not even straws.
Ask yourself are you in this for a reason which is bigger than what leaders tell you, your self-preserving mind tells you? Or are you in this because your conscience won’t let you rest unless you belong to the protests? If that is the case, then know, when your feel lonely, we are all with you. Each of us at the protests, articulating the protests, in solidarity with the protests, needs to keep our calm, hold our nerves and most of all keep the voice of our conscience alive.
In such a scenario, as we all focus, try to amplify the protests, I have decided to no longer engage with the right wing eco-system. Simply because, one engages with anyone, converses with anyone, on the assumption that the other side is listening, is willing to change. I know the right wing does not want to learn. It just wants to wear me down, exhaust me. I know closing the door to right wing means I end up in a silo. I vastly prefer to belong to a silo of protests than to any longer an effort to bridge the divide. I know that now there is enough ground momentum. Whatever the government does, events after 26th January shows me, the protest is seeded. It will continue to grow. It may change forms and shapes, but there is no stopping it. Now it is upon the right wing to bridge the divide with us.
Okay, to confess, I am not even engaging with the fence-sitters, the good-hearted but still illiterate about the protests, middle class. That time has passed. It is a war of nerves, to keep it non-violent from our side, we need to first hold our nerves, keep our sanity.
We will win.