The chaos and confusion, allegations and counter-allegations, and social media war are the new order of the day. On every contentious issue, citizens are on roads to settle their grievances. The redressal mechanism through the courts has become extremely weak and our country is under seizure for the entire year. Farmer’s protest in India’s national capital has created headlines globally but why the farmers are protesting, what is controversial in the contentious farm laws is hardly known to the majority of the people. The situation worsened further on republic day as a section of protesters reached the Red Fort on their tractors and stormed into its ramparts. The protesters climbed onto the ramparts of the Red Fort and waved their religious flags. One of them even climbed the flag post where the Tricolour was hoisted by the Prime Minister of India on Independence Day and replaced it with a religious flag there. Later, the police resorted to mild lathicharge and removed the people from the red Fort premises. It is imperative to fix the responsibility for this grave security failure that has led to the shaming of 1.3 billion people living in India. The weakness shown by the government will prove extremely costly in the times to come.

Farmer leaders have clearly stated that the agitation would continue till the farm laws are repealed. The entire confusion is fueled by the exit of NDA partner Akali Dal from the government in protest of the passing of the Farm Bill 2020 without enacting the MSP clause in the final draft of the Farm Bill 2020. It is fair to suggest that the Narendra Modi-led government being in the absolute majority is ignoring the sentiments of its allies since their absence has no impact in the lower house of the parliament for the government's survival. But as rightly suggested by Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amrinder Singh that anti-national forces are looking for an opportunity to penetrate any controversial movement to destabilize the country. Failed Khalistan push by overseas forces may trigger confusion in the minds of the sulking farmer community of Punjab to misguide them on the pretext of ethnic-religious divide hence the government of the day must remain vigilant and the requisite concessions should be extended to the farming community to defuse the unnecessary bitterness and heartbreak between the government and its people.

The government is lacking in communication skill set hence on every contentious issue - strikes and lockdowns are setting in. Lastly, the uncalled international intervention by certain groups and foreign leaders in an internal matter of the country is highly deplorable and it must be condemned in the strongest words. The government must defuse the crisis at the earliest and restore normalcy to accelerate the pace of developmental work that has suffered due to the Covid lockdown. The budget presented has a long-term vision and the government must focus on economic rejuvenation without any manmade disruption.

(The writer is Prashant Tewari, Editor-in-Chief, Opinion Express)

The chaos and confusion, allegations and counter-allegations, and social media war are the new order of the day. On every contentious issue, citizens are on roads to settle their grievances. The redressal mechanism through the courts has become extremely weak and our country is under seizure for the entire year. Farmer’s protest in India’s national capital has created headlines globally but why the farmers are protesting, what is controversial in the contentious farm laws is hardly known to the majority of the people. The situation worsened further on republic day as a section of protesters reached the Red Fort on their tractors and stormed into its ramparts. The protesters climbed onto the ramparts of the Red Fort and waved their religious flags. One of them even climbed the flag post where the Tricolour was hoisted by the Prime Minister of India on Independence Day and replaced it with a religious flag there. Later, the police resorted to mild lathicharge and removed the people from the red Fort premises. It is imperative to fix the responsibility for this grave security failure that has led to the shaming of 1.3 billion people living in India. The weakness shown by the government will prove extremely costly in the times to come.

Farmer leaders have clearly stated that the agitation would continue till the farm laws are repealed. The entire confusion is fueled by the exit of NDA partner Akali Dal from the government in protest of the passing of the Farm Bill 2020 without enacting the MSP clause in the final draft of the Farm Bill 2020. It is fair to suggest that the Narendra Modi-led government being in the absolute majority is ignoring the sentiments of its allies since their absence has no impact in the lower house of the parliament for the government's survival. But as rightly suggested by Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amrinder Singh that anti-national forces are looking for an opportunity to penetrate any controversial movement to destabilize the country. Failed Khalistan push by overseas forces may trigger confusion in the minds of the sulking farmer community of Punjab to misguide them on the pretext of ethnic-religious divide hence the government of the day must remain vigilant and the requisite concessions should be extended to the farming community to defuse the unnecessary bitterness and heartbreak between the government and its people.

The government is lacking in communication skill set hence on every contentious issue - strikes and lockdowns are setting in. Lastly, the uncalled international intervention by certain groups and foreign leaders in an internal matter of the country is highly deplorable and it must be condemned in the strongest words. The government must defuse the crisis at the earliest and restore normalcy to accelerate the pace of developmental work that has suffered due to the Covid lockdown. The budget presented has a long-term vision and the government must focus on economic rejuvenation without any manmade disruption.

(The writer is Prashant Tewari, Editor-in-Chief, Opinion Express)