Indian farmers find support in NZ

New Zealanders of Punjabi-Indian origin have joined others around the world in organising peaceful protests to express their solidarity with India's farmers, who continue protesting new farm-legislation introduced by the central government in New Delhi.

In Auckland, members of the Kiwi-Indian community have gathered at Aotea Square in the CBD to advocate for a speedy and amicable diffusing of the situation.

Currently, tens of thousands of farmers - predominantly from the northern state of Punjab - are camping on the outskirts of India's capital, New Delhi, with several rounds of failed talks having been held between India's Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar and the farmer's union representatives.

The government has enraged farmers with three new laws, introduced in September, designed to deregulate Indian agriculture by encouraging farmers to sell directly to companies. The government has long been a middle-man, guaranteeing minimum prices for certain crops. The laws say farmers will still have price assurances, but the language used is vague, and farmers are nervous about losing government support.

It's a situation similar to that faced by many Kiwi farmers in the 1980's, as the removal of government subsidies in agriculture changed the primary industry sector dramatically, and sometimes at great personal and financial cost to companies and individual farming families.. 

Protests in support of the farmers by parts of the global Indian diaspora are a relatively new experience for India's hugely popular but equally polarising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has enjoyed unfettered popularity and support amongst Indians overseas.

Indian prime Minister Nehendra Modi/photo 123rf

 In recent years, Modi has galvanised the Indian diaspora like never before, transforming this seemingly dormant grouping into an excited political constituency emotionally invested in the idea of a resurgent India.

The advent of modern technology and modes of communication and global travel have seen the new rulers in New Delhi attempt to harness the energy, and the resources of the Indian diaspora, particularly those in western countries. The opinions of the global Indian diaspora are now a key factor in India's politics.

The image of Modi has become popular among many in the Indian diaspora, with his very positive offshore support used to influence some of the intense politically divisive issues that have rocked contemporary India over recent years.

He also has a penchant for taking contentious decisions without feeling any obligation towards consensus-building.

His controversial demonetisation of India's currency in 2016, the implementation of a uniform GST, and revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir have all received considerable attention from Indians living outside the country,

Many Indian intellectuals and thought-leaders remain befuddled by Modi's popularity and electoral victories, despite many contentious decisions. 

However those thought-leaders, along with the current beleaguered and marginalised opposition, remain clueless and disoriented on how to present a viable political challenge to Modi's immense popularity.

They would perhaps find some solace in the recent restiveness of the Punjabi diaspora around the world.

Loosely described as the descendants of the ethnic Punjabis from India's northern state of Punjab, the community is mostly Sikh, and highly regarded for being hardworking, colourful, extravagant, and politically active.

The Punjabi diaspora, like many other sections of the Kiwi-Indian diaspora, passionately believes in putting down roots in their new chosen homes, without cutting the traditional connections with mainland India. 

Punjabi Farmers are determined to fight proposed farming sector reforms/ photo AP

New Zealand's Punjabi community recently assisted during Covid-related lockdowns by arranging food-parcels and relief to tens of thousands of people in destitution and desperation – a gesture acknowledged and recognised in Parliament.

Their continuing strong connections with India makes them responsive, and sensitive, to anything that they perceive as affecting their brothers and sisters, and extended families back in India.

To be fair to Prime Minister Modi, the recent changes to farming legislation are not seen as a core-issue for the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). 

The current new laws - argued by many as long-overdue - are part of a wider reform of Indian agriculture. 

The farming sector has always been a highly sensitive area in Indian politics, with needed reforms ignored by successive governments for fear of intense political fall-out from India's vast and protected farming community and their often well-heeled, politically active representatives.

The first and second generation of economic reforms in India during the 1990's largely focussed on de-licensing and de-regulation of the industrial sector, lifting millions of urban people out of the poverty.

But a failure to act on reforms of the farming sector - which contributes around  15 per cent of annual GDP and employs almost 65 per cent of the entire workforce - resulted in extremely low productivity and an intense urban drift from the countryside to urban centres, sweeping away some of the earlier gains made in the eradication of urban poverty in India.

But now, the electoral dominance of the BJP, and its tendency to take controversial decisions, has emboldened the current government of India to enunciate much-delayed farm sector reforms.

However, Prime Minister Modi's propensity for taking "big-decisive-decisions," with little or no consensus-building - often viewed as a sign of weakness and lack of political-will – has seemingly not gone well with the country's most affluent and well-connected farming community.

Ten of thousands of farmers are continuing protest action on highways around New Delhi, while talks continue between farmer’s unions and government officials.

Given the nature of country's intensely competitive politics, the opposition parties and many other social groups reeling under Modi's earlier unilateral decision-making appear to be joining hands to challenge the "Modi-juggernaut", regardless of the merits of the farm reform issue.

To make matters worse – India has now entered a recession, with two consecutive quarters of negative growth, and the nation continues to suffer under the impact of the coronavirus.

In politics, perception is key, and currently, it seems that PM Modi and his party needs to do more to create the right perception, and avoid the issue escalating into a much bigger problem for the ruling government, and overall "Brand India."

* Sandeep Singh is the editor of Auckland-based community newspaper The Indian Weekender. The views expressed are the author's alone.

- Asia Media Centre