The TLDR: The nationwide protest against the farm laws was peaceful and modestly successful. The one surprise for the farmers: an unexpected invite from Amit Shah— but that ended once again in an impasse. What’s worth noting: a first crack in the farmers’ ranks. Here’s a quick roundup of yesterday’s events. 

The bandh

• More than 50 lakh people participated in the one-day strike across 20,000 locations nationwide. 
• At least 25 political parties supported the bandh, along with trade unions, retail and transport associations and many professional bodies. 
• Major highways around Delhi were blocked, and normal life across vast swathes of North India came to a standstill. 
• The bandh was more effective in Opposition-ruled states than those controlled by the BJP. The reason: The police in BJP states preemptively detained leaders, and quickly shut down protests.
• The Internet Freedom Foundation raised concerns that the government was blocking connectivity at protest sites.
• Farmers, however, called the strike a success, saying: “It is very clear today that the struggle is not just restricted to Punjab, and not just restricted to farmers. This has become a struggle across all sections of society in India. The government of India now knows it doesn’t have a way out.”
• The Hindu has the most details. Times of India describes the response to the bandh as “lukewarm.”

A related protest: Agricultural scientist Dr Varinder Pal Singh politely declined to accept a gold medal from a Union minister. He also wrote a letter to PM Modi explaining his reasons. See the moment below:

A related drama: Delhi Chief Minister and his AAP party got into a jhagda with the Delhi police. Arvind Kejriwal claimed that he’s been placed under house arrest—a charge firmly denied by the cops. Then he came out of his home and declared: 

“I wanted to spend some time on the border with the farmers today, not as a CM, but as a sewadar. I wanted to show my support to them by sitting with them for half-an-hour or so. I think they got to know about my plan, and so they did not let me know. But even though I could not go, I was praying from my home for the movement of the nation to be successful.”

All of which led to the bizarre ‘battle of the megaphones’ below. All the grandstanding left most others unimpressed.

The meeting

• Towards the end of the bandh, Home Minister Amit Shah unexpectedly stepped in and invited a small contingent for talks—asking them to limit the size to 13-14 leaders. 
• Until now, all 32 groups were represented in the negotiations with the government.  
• The venue was changed from the Vigyan Bhawan to National Agricultural Science Complex while the farmers were stuck in traffic en route to the meeting.
• It finally took place at 8 pm and lasted three hours. 

The outcome: Neither side budged from their staked position. The government continued to offer amendments to the existing laws. The farmers insisted they want a full repeal of the three laws and a guaranteed minimum price for their harvest. The Telegraph describes the meeting as follows:

“Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar and food minister Piyush Goyal attended the meeting. According to those present, Tomar again listed the amendments the government was prepared to accept and was reminded by the farmers that they had heard all this several times before. Shah then stepped in to say the government was willing to consider more amendments. When the farmers insisted on repeal, he urged them not to be adamant.”

The first crack: Shah’s insistence that the farmers send a smaller group sparked the first sign of disunity in the ranks. According to The Hindu:

"Joginder Singh, president of BKU-Ugrahan, who was not included in the meeting, said the unions should not have gone to meet Mr. Shah separately as the move would create “misunderstanding among struggling people.”

 

He added that BKU-Ugrahan had previously been approached twice for separate talks with the government, but they refused the offer. “We had always stuck to the demand that all organisations should be invited jointly."

What’s next

At the end of the meeting, the government offered to put its proposed amendments in writing. This proposal will now be jointly considered by all the leaders who will then “formulate their own strategy.. But the talks that were scheduled for today have been canceled. Three points to note in the reporting:

One: The Times of India report—which appears to be based on official sources—indicates that this may be the government’s full and final offer:

“Shah’s meeting with farmers’ leaders indicated that the government was seeking to convey its bottomline clearly. While it is keen that the stir ends, not the least because of reports of the role of separatist outfits seeking to exploit the situation, it has ruled out accepting the ‘maximalist’ demands put forward by the unions.” 

Two: The Hindu says it is not clear whether all 32 leaders will reject anything less than a full repeal of the laws.

Three: And The Telegraph has this interesting nugget: “Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh (RKM) leader Shiv Kumar Sharma ‘Kakaji’ said the farmers’ unions had no option but to stay the course — an indication that the groundswell of opinion against the three new laws had left the leaders with little room to negotiate.”

Not helping matters: NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant who—at an event organised by Swarajya magazine—identified the greatest stumbling block to big-ticket reforms: “too much democracy.” He denied it later, but you can judge for yourself from the clip below: 

The bottomline: All of the above suggests that both sides appear to have dug themselves in for a long fight—unless the government can find a way to divide the opposition.

Reading list

In our previous explainer, we laid out the vast divide that separates the two sides. Also see: our explainer on the three farm laws. Mint has a very good piece on why farmers are wary about private markets.