NOTE: The Hindus for Human Rights blog is a space for a healthy exploration of ideas pertinent to our mission. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Hindus for Human Rights.

By Swati Garg, Member and Volunteer, HfHR

On October 20th, the Punjab government passed 3 bills to counter the agricultural bill of the central government, and many Congress ruled states plan to follow suit. These bills make it easier for the farmers to sell the produce to private players outside “Mandi system”, thus removing many middlemen and bureaucratic red tape in the process. Thus, farmers would enjoy higher profits, as fewer or none middlemen to share with. As lucrative as the bills sound, they were met with stiff opposition from the farming community they aim to help. There is a very good reason: Farmers are not thrilled at the prospect of earning higher profit margin as it comes at the steep cost of losing the protection of Minimum Support Price (MSP) offered under the existing Mandi system.

While one would expect lengthy debates and discussion in the parliament over such a pivotal move, in fact the bills were passed with the opposition not even being heard. The audio feed of the parliament was cut off. When it came to vote on the bill, members of the parliament raised their hands without even looking up, and it was decided that the majority had the votes. Parliamentarian Derek O’ Brien rightly summarized the entire exercise as “Shoving knife through parliamentary democracy.”

Thus began the  massive protests across the nation to salvage the guarantee of minimum price.  Punjab had been at the forefront of these protests that began almost a month ago, and it was heartening to see the entire state coming together to raise their voice. In many ways, these protests united the nation. Though the bills directly affect the people involved in the farming community, they were not standing alone in raising their voices against the injustice. People from all walks of life -- including students, singers, school dropout, actors, women’s rights activists -- not only joined the protest but were leading from the front. Issues that affect one affect us all as a nation, and these protests reflect the solidarity which exists, and needs to be strengthened, in India and the Indian diaspora.  

The three bills currently await signature of the governor, and the fate of the farmers still hangs in uncertainty. And now for almost a month, the protest continues.

The planned “Rail roko” (Stop the trains), a form of protest where farmers lie on rail tracks to stop passenger trains, has been called off for almost a week, as the Central Government ceased operation of goods trains in retaliation. Mr. Piyush Goyal, the railway minister, refuses to resume the operation of goods trains which are crucial for the supply of essential goods, manure, fertilizers and materials that farmers depend on.

As we witness the onslaught on the farming community, I remember a song we all used to sing as kids espousing our love for Mother India.

“Mere desh ki dharti 

ugle sona, ugle hire mote, 

mere desh ki dharti” 

—My country’s soil pours out gold, diamond and pearls

The riches in the song are a metaphor for the vivid varieties of crops that are grown across the nation by our hard working farmers. Just like the songs of a bygone era, the government has lost appreciation and concern for our farmers. Once Nehru said - “Everything else can wait, but not agriculture”, and yet today the government seems least bothered of the fact that the laws brought by them have brought the entire farming community to a standstill.  

“Matsya nyaya” is offered by philosopher Kautilya as the natural law of nature in which small fish get eaten by the bigger fish, that in turn is eaten by an even bigger fish. Kautilya and other ancient thinkers argued that society would degenerate into the anarchy of matsya nyaya (dog eat dog, or law of the jungle) without compassion.

In Hinduism we are taught the Dashatavar, the ten times that Lord Vishnu descended to Earth to rid the world of a prevalent evil force, and restore balance. The very first avatar is the Matsya (Fish) Avatar.
Here is the story in brief:

The Gods had decided that there was so much bad in the world that it was time to destroy it with a flood, and recreate it. Lord Vishnu came to earth as a tiny fish to warn one good man on earth, known as Manu or Satyavrata, about the flood, so that he could save all that was good on earth, and also the Vedas, the oldest and most important Hindu texts. When Manu was bathing in river, a small fish appeared before him and asked for protection from big fish. There was no benefit for Manu to save the fish, yet out of compassion he scooped up the fish and put it in a pot. The fish kept growing larger and larger, and Manu transferred the fish to a bigger pot. Eventually, under Manu’s care, the fish grew large enough to survive in the ocean. Vishnu, in the form of a fish, teaches humanity how to outgrow “Matsya Nyaya” and become a civilization by protecting the weakest.

The story teaches the importance of compassion. Hinduism urges us to build a society where even the weakest can thrive and grow from a tiny fish into a truly aatm-nirbhar (self-reliant) fish. If not, then how different will our society be from a jungle?

The government of India claims to be guided by Hindu values, but has not understood this most basic Hindu teaching. They have taken away the only protection farmers had against exploitation—the  Minimum Support Price guarantee.