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India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced that his government will repeal the farm laws that resulted in deadly year-long protests by farmers who claimed the legislation would crush their livelihood.
“Today, I beg the forgiveness of my countrymen and say with a pure heart and honest mind that perhaps there were some shortcomings,” he told the country of 1.4 billion, where half the population works in agriculture.
The Trends Journal reported on the destabilizing protests that broke out in the country when they first began. (See “INDIA’S FARMERS KEEP FIGHTING,” “INDIAN FARMERS BLAST COURT: NOT BACKING DOWN” and “PROTESTERS KILLED IN INDIA: FARMERS FIGHT TO THE FINISH.”)
India’s farmers took to the streets in protest of Modi’s three new farm laws that they said stripped them of earning potential and allowed major conglomerates to crush their businesses. New Delhi has strict laws based on the sale of produce, and farmers also receive subsidies from the government.
The Modi administration disagreed with the protesters and their demands, insisting the new laws are urgent and allow farmers to increase earning potential.
The protests were tense. Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party cut off electricity and water near some of the camps, blocked internet access in some parts of the country, and erected barbed wire and planting spikes in the streets to keep the tractors from coming into New Delhi.
Thousands of farmers have blocked major highways and held a massive truck rally that turned violent when some farmers drove their tractors to confront police. Dozens of farmers who camped out during these protests have died from exposure.
Agriculture makes up 15 percent of the country’s $2.9-trillion economy. Modi told the protesting farmers to “return home to their families, and let’s start afresh.”
The last time that Modi retreated on a major proposal was in 2015 when his government attempted to overhaul agricultural land sales.
There are upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, which have a large farmer base, and some experts told the BBC that Modi may have been influenced by the polls. Modi did not concede that the plans were ill-advised. He said his government failed at explaining the benefits to the public.
TREND-TRACKING LESSON: Gerald Celente has long noted that one of the most important elements for protests to be successful is that they must continue unabated. For example, the Berlin Wall came tumbling down when people came to the wall and did not leave. And each day, more people came and did not leave until they greatly outnumbered the military.
And as with India’s farmers, day after day, night after night, week after week, month after month, they took to the streets and did not leave until they got what they wanted.
Unlike India’s farmers, who work with their hands and are strong and hearty, today’s demonstrators in the Western world take to the streets one day, make a big deal about it, and they go home. For success to be achieved, the resolve to protest must continue until demands are satisfactorily met.
Need More Proof?
Immediately following one of the biggest anti-nuclear protests in American history, back in 1982, when nearly a million protesters gathered in New York City’s Central Park, Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger said how useless and ineffective the event was in changing Washington’s policy.
“The fact that a very large number of people turn out for a particular event is certainly something that people notice. But I don’t think that anybody rushes back and says, ‘We have to change our policy’ . . . or something because there’s been a rally.”