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> Agriculture employs about half of India's 1.3 billion population I am not familiar with politics in India, so my question is: how does the BJP manage to push

> Agriculture employs about half of India's 1.3 billion population I am not familiar with politics in India, so my question is: how does the BJP manage to push laws that (seem to) adversly affect the interest of half of the population? Isn't that political suicide for the BJP?

hashhar 6y ago
They counter for it pulling on religion and hyper-nationalistic views like banning beef, uniform civil laws (even though almost each religion has their own including Hindus).
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
lord_washington 6y ago
It's not clear if the laws do "adversly" affect interest of all farmers. The laws target APMC's monopsony which has been already diluted by many states, which means that farmers are not totally dependent on APMC. Hence in many areas farmers are largely indifferent and in certain are clearly supporting the laws[1]. In Punjab and Haryana, the mandatory procurement by FCI(regardless of the demand) and the APMC system works to its maximum efficiency[2]. Hence the large scale support there. 1. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/who-are-shetkari-sanghatana-the-group-backing-govt-on-the-farm-laws-7107905/ https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/who-are-shetkari... 2. https://m.economictimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/how-indias-grain-policies-have-stoked-fcis-debt-binge/articleshow/80006240.cms https://m.economictimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/how-ind...
- bgdam 6y ago
  As always for any polarizing topic in India on which the current ruling party has strong opinions, it's better to disregard Indian media, since they always carry a biased, pro government narrative.
yinyang_in 6y ago
Not BJP fanatic, but as I see these laws. These are pro-farmer and anti-madis laws. There was monopolies of mandis(farmer are restricted only to sell here) now government allows them to make contract or sell anywhere. I wrote posts on it : https://iamamitmurari.medium.com/farm-laws-farmer-issues-and-resolutions-bc1aa353dfa https://iamamitmurari.medium.com/farm-laws-farmer-issues-and...
- fakedang 6y ago
  There's way too much nuance here than what your post suggests. Your post is a theoretical evaluation of the new laws, without looking at the on-the-ground happenings or the fallout effects from the new laws. Granted, the old mandi system is extremely broken, but the new laws aren't any much better. On the contrary, they facilitate the gradual takeover of control from the APMCs to government-tied cronies. These farmers already know it (and aren't "uneducated" as the Indian farmer trope goes) and they saw through the government ploy pretty much.
  - lord_washington 6y ago
    > On the contrary, they facilitate the gradual takeover of control from the APMCs to government-tied cronies That's oft-repeated claim that lacks serious backing. If that were true all farmer associations must have opposed the laws which is not happening[1]. 1. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/who-are-shetkari-sanghatana-the-group-backing-govt-on-the-farm-laws-7107905/ https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/who-are-shetkari...
- mandeepj 6y ago
  > There was monopolies of mandis(farmer are restricted only to sell here) now government allows them to make contract or sell anywhere. You have no clue. Farmers were free before also to sell anywhere. Reliance is going to monopolize in agriculture also similar to what they have done with Telecom via Jio.
  - flik 6y ago
    Agree. I have a BSNL net connection (with reliability going down from good to worse). Being public sectore, Central govt is accountable for BSNL quality. The way BSNL value is/was destroyed to promote Reliance... is now repeating elsewhere.
mds101 6y ago
They stoke communal sentiments, pit Hindus vs Muslims, make it seem like the minorities are out to destroy the Hindus, and a vast majority of the population just laps it up. They have a giant misinformation network, which has recruited everybody from bots to popular actors to popular sportspeople and they spread out misinformation in a highly organized manner. Very effective at spreading FUD which translates into votes come election time. Even now, on Twitter and Reddit you'll find thousands of posts about how the protesting farmers are khalistani terrorists. Goebbels would be proud of what the BJP have accomplished.
- njanirudh 6y ago
  Many of the violent ones were khalistani terrorists[1]. [1]https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/republic-day-violence-did-khalistani-elements-hijack-farmer-protest-in-delhi-1763681-2021-01-28 https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/republic-day-v...
- higerordermap 6y ago
  Doesn't help that the opposite party, Indian National Congress, is still reliant on old outdated minority appeasement tactics. Both parties are guilty of spreading misinformation, but now-ruling party encashed the majority votebank first, and almost controls the popular narrative. Moreover INC doesn't have promising leadership, they are mostly exploited by Nehru-Gandhi family. In most demographics, majority of people are conservative and it's just matter of time someone exploits it.
durovo 6y ago
I don't believe that the protestors have a moral high ground in this particular case. Many of them receive free electricity and all of them don't pay any taxes (no matter how much they earn). In states like Punjab, the farmers have entered a vicious cycle where they keep planting water-hungry crops like wheat and rice due to the Minimum Support Price that they get on those (the water table in this region is in danger). Plus these protestors are also against the laws that fine farmers for burning the stubble after harvest (which results in the infamous Delhi smog every winter). Basically, it's a fight between two groups with vested interests.
- lord_washington 6y ago
  That's the reason why the protests lacks large-scale support across the country.
- baybal2 6y ago
  Nobody grows wheat on nullah irrigated land in his sane mind. That is reserved for much more expensive crops.
- srean 6y ago
  Many corporations get tax shields and benefits too, its not that the farmers are unique in this regard.
bilalhusain 6y ago
Modi's BJP is a power hungry party unlike anything I have seen. I doubt they care about anything (nation, economy, welfare). The way it has been going on is that government announces something or passes some bill because they have to do something on a particular topic (say black money, taxes, Covid). However, they are incompetent or don't have the willingness or interest in actually carrying it out. So, these changes turn out to be catastrophic. They take toll on economy as well as anyone impacted because of the decision making. Agriculture reforms are much needed in India. However, the government did it in hurry by-passing rules and without consulting farmers. I guess, they just want to do something so that they can let the marketing take care of the rest (that the goverment has done something for farmers - doesn't matter what or irrespective of whether it really helps them). With these bills, the concern is that it will let private players take over and exploit farmers because of insufficient provisions to take care of farmers' interest. And then nobody will care (very much a risk because no one raises voice of oppressed which might show government in bad light because of the sold-out media). And the government will push narrative that they did the "reforms" (backed by fake data which is a hallmark of this government).
- quantummkv 6y ago
  > Agriculture reforms are much needed in India. However, the government did it in hurry by-passing rules and without consulting farmers That is false. These reforms are decades in the making with just about everyone opposing these laws now had advocated for it. Case in point, take a look at this tweet from BKU (the union leading these protests) - https://twitter.com/BKU_KisanUnion/status/1101674010666913792 https://twitter.com/BKU_KisanUnion/status/110167401066691379... In the above tweet, the farmers union is demanding that these vert farms laws should be implemented. Then after the government did that, they started protesting what they were demanding in the first place. And this is not the only incident. Second case in point - here is what the Congress and AAP (the principle opposition parties leading the protests) promised to do if they were elected in the elections in 2019 - https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/a-tale-of-u-turns-on-the-three-farm-laws-1750146-2020-12-16 https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/a-tale-of-u-tu... So how come everyone demanding these laws is now protesting against the same laws? Common sense would dictate that the protests are not due to these laws. They are political in nature, where these laws are used as a shield to help legitimise these protests
jangid 6y ago
This is not correct information that the new laws adversely affect the interest of farmers. It hampers the middleman more than the actual farmers. North part of India has two states which have significant contribution to farming in India - Punjab and Haryana. New laws allow the farm owner to directly sell the crop to the corporate without any middleman. In the above two states the trade is tightly controlled by middlemen. Hence the issue. In other states, very few people are protesting.
rishav_sharan 6y ago
the same farmers will vote for BJP come election time, because Hindutva. Indian voters are increasingly single issue voters and the issue here is just religious fundamentalism. Despite every misstep that BJP has taken, every economic blunder they have made and widespread increase in authoritarianism, its popularity has only risen. One of the vilest BJP leaders, Ajay Bisht, who rules UP - one of the most backwards state in India is expected to be one of the upcoming PM candidates for the next election. It doesn't matters he has made Up into a bigger hellhole, but because he is a "yogi" (saint/ one who does Yoga), he is BJP's posterchild and one of its most popular leaders.
dartharva 6y ago
They've become arrogant and seem to be of the opinion that their populist support, communal propaganda and sway on media channels is enough to counter any resistance they may receive. Their proposed laws deregulate agri markets but people no longer trust them to do any good: https://the-ken.com/the-nutgraf/the-trust-battery-is-at-1/ https://the-ken.com/the-nutgraf/the-trust-battery-is-at-1/ So yes, they overestimated their reach and this would have certainly been political suicide, if only they had any competent opposition.
bythckr 6y ago
Let me share how I understood the issue. Pre-independence, during the Zamindar System (Indian version of Feudalism). The Zamindar owned the land and the farmers worked on it and the Zamindar compensated them what he felt like. The farmers had no leverage to bargain and was pretty much the salve of the Zamindar. This was the Indian version of slaves. Similarly after the Independence, the Zamindar System was abolished. But a market yards (mandis) system came up, here the farmer either owns the land or rents out the land from someone. But can ONLY sell the produce to the local Mandi. The Mandi has the upper-hand in deciding the prices and the farmer cannot negotiate as no one else is allowed to buy it from the farmer. The Mandi effectively became a new/mutated (keeping up with the Covid times ;)) version of Zamindar aka Feudalism. The farmers are still technically slaves of the Mandi. As per the new law, the farmer has to right to sell the produce to ANYONE, including the Mandi. So, the Mandi can quote the price and if anyone bids a higher price, they can get it. If need be, me as a consumer can buy directly and legally from the farmer. As for the minimum price protection, the mandi does offer that service and that service will continue as per the current system if you agree to sell to the Mandi. But in many states, the state government offers an insurance were the farmer can enroll in it and if the crop is damaged due to weather or locust (like it happened recently) or failed to get a promised minimum price, the farmer will be compensated. In the state of Tamil Nadu (couple of relatives are involved in farming there), this insurance/financing is done via the Banks. At each stage, the bank gives money for buying manure & seeds. Basically you can take a loan from the bank to do agriculture and if it fails or you dont get the minimum promised price, the loan is written off. So, the farmer can do the agriculture without spending any money from their own pockets and in case of loss, the bank writes off the loan. There are similar systems in various states, because of the Mandis there is no competition and the state govt & Mandis and do what they feel like. Now with the new law, the Mandis are facing competition. Basically they opened a protected market to competition. As you asked, the BJP is pushing to implement this law in an Agrarian country like India is because they know that the majority needs this law and they can use this to get votes in the next election. Right now the whole protest is from the single state of Punjab where you have the oldest and the richest Mandis. You cannot blame the Mandis for getting upset in damaging their business. Plus states like Kerala with very low farming and they don't have a mandi system but is ruled by the communist party is just sending their party workers to protest, just because they dont want the BJP to succeed. Their opposition is to the party that is implementing the change and not the law. That is the same case with most of the opposition. To me, this is like the horse traders protesting when the Automobile came out or the coin-operated telephone people protesting when mobiles came about or like the fossil fuel industry crying about the advent of Solar & renewal energy.
youeseh 6y ago
The short answer is that the new laws benefit some farmers and burden others. You'll notice that the protestors are mostly from Punjab - the BJP did not win in Punjab, so they don't have much to lose there by helping other farmers at the cost of Punjabi farmers. The previous system was more favorable to Punjab's farmers.
kumarvvr 6y ago
These laws will eventually reduce the hold of middlemen a lot. Most of the law is sane and progressive, but middlemen are fomenting unrest as the farmer can sell his produce in the open market with these new laws.
quantummkv 6y ago
The short answer is that it does not adversely affect that large of a population. Approximately 80% of the farmers in India are not at all affected by these laws. And this is reflected in these "protests". There have been no large countrywide protests in India. All of the protests have been centred around Delhi. And most of the protesters are Sikh farmers from Punjab. And even if the general populace had a feeling about this, it mostly turned negative after the shameful happenings on 26th January (India's Republic Day, the day the constitution of independent India was applied). These "protesters" carried out a raid similar to the US Capitol attack. And with that, any public support evaporated exactly like in the US
dirtyid 6y ago
Modi first leader with majority in 30 years + populism + compliant media, i.e. generational opportunity to get things done. Regardless of how one feels about Modi + BJP he has power to push through big reforms despite dysfunctional nature of democracy at India scale. Whether intention is genuine or results are productive is another matter. IMO things will get messier until March, farmers incentivized to return to fields to work. Farmers also only bloc large enough to make Modi blink.
satya71 6y ago
They have a committed support from 33% that gives them control of the levers of govt (because first-past-the-post multi-party system), many times using extra-constitutional means.

hashhar 6y ago

They counter for it pulling on religion and hyper-nationalistic views like banning beef, uniform civil laws (even though almost each religion has their own including Hindus).

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

lord_washington 6y ago

It's not clear if the laws do "adversly" affect interest of all farmers. The laws target APMC's monopsony which has been already diluted by many states, which means that farmers are not totally dependent on APMC. Hence in many areas farmers are largely indifferent and in certain are clearly supporting the laws[1]. In Punjab and Haryana, the mandatory procurement by FCI(regardless of the demand) and the APMC system works to its maximum efficiency[2]. Hence the large scale support there. 1. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/who-are-shetkari-sanghatana-the-group-backing-govt-on-the-farm-laws-7107905/ https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/who-are-shetkari... 2. https://m.economictimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/how-indias-grain-policies-have-stoked-fcis-debt-binge/articleshow/80006240.cms https://m.economictimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/how-ind...

bgdam 6y ago
As always for any polarizing topic in India on which the current ruling party has strong opinions, it's better to disregard Indian media, since they always carry a biased, pro government narrative.

yinyang_in 6y ago

Not BJP fanatic, but as I see these laws. These are pro-farmer and anti-madis laws. There was monopolies of mandis(farmer are restricted only to sell here) now government allows them to make contract or sell anywhere. I wrote posts on it : https://iamamitmurari.medium.com/farm-laws-farmer-issues-and-resolutions-bc1aa353dfa https://iamamitmurari.medium.com/farm-laws-farmer-issues-and...

fakedang 6y ago
There's way too much nuance here than what your post suggests. Your post is a theoretical evaluation of the new laws, without looking at the on-the-ground happenings or the fallout effects from the new laws. Granted, the old mandi system is extremely broken, but the new laws aren't any much better. On the contrary, they facilitate the gradual takeover of control from the APMCs to government-tied cronies. These farmers already know it (and aren't "uneducated" as the Indian farmer trope goes) and they saw through the government ploy pretty much.
- lord_washington 6y ago
  > On the contrary, they facilitate the gradual takeover of control from the APMCs to government-tied cronies That's oft-repeated claim that lacks serious backing. If that were true all farmer associations must have opposed the laws which is not happening[1]. 1. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/who-are-shetkari-sanghatana-the-group-backing-govt-on-the-farm-laws-7107905/ https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/who-are-shetkari...
mandeepj 6y ago
> There was monopolies of mandis(farmer are restricted only to sell here) now government allows them to make contract or sell anywhere. You have no clue. Farmers were free before also to sell anywhere. Reliance is going to monopolize in agriculture also similar to what they have done with Telecom via Jio.
- flik 6y ago
  Agree. I have a BSNL net connection (with reliability going down from good to worse). Being public sectore, Central govt is accountable for BSNL quality. The way BSNL value is/was destroyed to promote Reliance... is now repeating elsewhere.

mds101 6y ago

They stoke communal sentiments, pit Hindus vs Muslims, make it seem like the minorities are out to destroy the Hindus, and a vast majority of the population just laps it up. They have a giant misinformation network, which has recruited everybody from bots to popular actors to popular sportspeople and they spread out misinformation in a highly organized manner. Very effective at spreading FUD which translates into votes come election time. Even now, on Twitter and Reddit you'll find thousands of posts about how the protesting farmers are khalistani terrorists. Goebbels would be proud of what the BJP have accomplished.

njanirudh 6y ago
Many of the violent ones were khalistani terrorists[1]. [1]https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/republic-day-violence-did-khalistani-elements-hijack-farmer-protest-in-delhi-1763681-2021-01-28 https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/republic-day-v...
higerordermap 6y ago
Doesn't help that the opposite party, Indian National Congress, is still reliant on old outdated minority appeasement tactics. Both parties are guilty of spreading misinformation, but now-ruling party encashed the majority votebank first, and almost controls the popular narrative. Moreover INC doesn't have promising leadership, they are mostly exploited by Nehru-Gandhi family. In most demographics, majority of people are conservative and it's just matter of time someone exploits it.

durovo 6y ago

I don't believe that the protestors have a moral high ground in this particular case. Many of them receive free electricity and all of them don't pay any taxes (no matter how much they earn). In states like Punjab, the farmers have entered a vicious cycle where they keep planting water-hungry crops like wheat and rice due to the Minimum Support Price that they get on those (the water table in this region is in danger). Plus these protestors are also against the laws that fine farmers for burning the stubble after harvest (which results in the infamous Delhi smog every winter). Basically, it's a fight between two groups with vested interests.

lord_washington 6y ago
That's the reason why the protests lacks large-scale support across the country.
baybal2 6y ago
Nobody grows wheat on nullah irrigated land in his sane mind. That is reserved for much more expensive crops.
srean 6y ago
Many corporations get tax shields and benefits too, its not that the farmers are unique in this regard.

bilalhusain 6y ago

Modi's BJP is a power hungry party unlike anything I have seen. I doubt they care about anything (nation, economy, welfare). The way it has been going on is that government announces something or passes some bill because they have to do something on a particular topic (say black money, taxes, Covid). However, they are incompetent or don't have the willingness or interest in actually carrying it out. So, these changes turn out to be catastrophic. They take toll on economy as well as anyone impacted because of the decision making. Agriculture reforms are much needed in India. However, the government did it in hurry by-passing rules and without consulting farmers. I guess, they just want to do something so that they can let the marketing take care of the rest (that the goverment has done something for farmers - doesn't matter what or irrespective of whether it really helps them). With these bills, the concern is that it will let private players take over and exploit farmers because of insufficient provisions to take care of farmers' interest. And then nobody will care (very much a risk because no one raises voice of oppressed which might show government in bad light because of the sold-out media). And the government will push narrative that they did the "reforms" (backed by fake data which is a hallmark of this government).

quantummkv 6y ago
> Agriculture reforms are much needed in India. However, the government did it in hurry by-passing rules and without consulting farmers That is false. These reforms are decades in the making with just about everyone opposing these laws now had advocated for it. Case in point, take a look at this tweet from BKU (the union leading these protests) - https://twitter.com/BKU_KisanUnion/status/1101674010666913792 https://twitter.com/BKU_KisanUnion/status/110167401066691379... In the above tweet, the farmers union is demanding that these vert farms laws should be implemented. Then after the government did that, they started protesting what they were demanding in the first place. And this is not the only incident. Second case in point - here is what the Congress and AAP (the principle opposition parties leading the protests) promised to do if they were elected in the elections in 2019 - https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/a-tale-of-u-turns-on-the-three-farm-laws-1750146-2020-12-16 https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/a-tale-of-u-tu... So how come everyone demanding these laws is now protesting against the same laws? Common sense would dictate that the protests are not due to these laws. They are political in nature, where these laws are used as a shield to help legitimise these protests

jangid 6y ago

This is not correct information that the new laws adversely affect the interest of farmers. It hampers the middleman more than the actual farmers. North part of India has two states which have significant contribution to farming in India - Punjab and Haryana. New laws allow the farm owner to directly sell the crop to the corporate without any middleman. In the above two states the trade is tightly controlled by middlemen. Hence the issue. In other states, very few people are protesting.

rishav_sharan 6y ago

the same farmers will vote for BJP come election time, because Hindutva. Indian voters are increasingly single issue voters and the issue here is just religious fundamentalism. Despite every misstep that BJP has taken, every economic blunder they have made and widespread increase in authoritarianism, its popularity has only risen. One of the vilest BJP leaders, Ajay Bisht, who rules UP - one of the most backwards state in India is expected to be one of the upcoming PM candidates for the next election. It doesn't matters he has made Up into a bigger hellhole, but because he is a "yogi" (saint/ one who does Yoga), he is BJP's posterchild and one of its most popular leaders.

dartharva 6y ago

They've become arrogant and seem to be of the opinion that their populist support, communal propaganda and sway on media channels is enough to counter any resistance they may receive. Their proposed laws deregulate agri markets but people no longer trust them to do any good: https://the-ken.com/the-nutgraf/the-trust-battery-is-at-1/ https://the-ken.com/the-nutgraf/the-trust-battery-is-at-1/ So yes, they overestimated their reach and this would have certainly been political suicide, if only they had any competent opposition.

bythckr 6y ago

Let me share how I understood the issue. Pre-independence, during the Zamindar System (Indian version of Feudalism). The Zamindar owned the land and the farmers worked on it and the Zamindar compensated them what he felt like. The farmers had no leverage to bargain and was pretty much the salve of the Zamindar. This was the Indian version of slaves. Similarly after the Independence, the Zamindar System was abolished. But a market yards (mandis) system came up, here the farmer either owns the land or rents out the land from someone. But can ONLY sell the produce to the local Mandi. The Mandi has the upper-hand in deciding the prices and the farmer cannot negotiate as no one else is allowed to buy it from the farmer. The Mandi effectively became a new/mutated (keeping up with the Covid times ;)) version of Zamindar aka Feudalism. The farmers are still technically slaves of the Mandi. As per the new law, the farmer has to right to sell the produce to ANYONE, including the Mandi. So, the Mandi can quote the price and if anyone bids a higher price, they can get it. If need be, me as a consumer can buy directly and legally from the farmer. As for the minimum price protection, the mandi does offer that service and that service will continue as per the current system if you agree to sell to the Mandi. But in many states, the state government offers an insurance were the farmer can enroll in it and if the crop is damaged due to weather or locust (like it happened recently) or failed to get a promised minimum price, the farmer will be compensated. In the state of Tamil Nadu (couple of relatives are involved in farming there), this insurance/financing is done via the Banks. At each stage, the bank gives money for buying manure & seeds. Basically you can take a loan from the bank to do agriculture and if it fails or you dont get the minimum promised price, the loan is written off. So, the farmer can do the agriculture without spending any money from their own pockets and in case of loss, the bank writes off the loan. There are similar systems in various states, because of the Mandis there is no competition and the state govt & Mandis and do what they feel like. Now with the new law, the Mandis are facing competition. Basically they opened a protected market to competition. As you asked, the BJP is pushing to implement this law in an Agrarian country like India is because they know that the majority needs this law and they can use this to get votes in the next election. Right now the whole protest is from the single state of Punjab where you have the oldest and the richest Mandis. You cannot blame the Mandis for getting upset in damaging their business. Plus states like Kerala with very low farming and they don't have a mandi system but is ruled by the communist party is just sending their party workers to protest, just because they dont want the BJP to succeed. Their opposition is to the party that is implementing the change and not the law. That is the same case with most of the opposition. To me, this is like the horse traders protesting when the Automobile came out or the coin-operated telephone people protesting when mobiles came about or like the fossil fuel industry crying about the advent of Solar & renewal energy.

youeseh 6y ago

The short answer is that the new laws benefit some farmers and burden others. You'll notice that the protestors are mostly from Punjab - the BJP did not win in Punjab, so they don't have much to lose there by helping other farmers at the cost of Punjabi farmers. The previous system was more favorable to Punjab's farmers.

kumarvvr 6y ago

These laws will eventually reduce the hold of middlemen a lot. Most of the law is sane and progressive, but middlemen are fomenting unrest as the farmer can sell his produce in the open market with these new laws.

quantummkv 6y ago

The short answer is that it does not adversely affect that large of a population. Approximately 80% of the farmers in India are not at all affected by these laws. And this is reflected in these "protests". There have been no large countrywide protests in India. All of the protests have been centred around Delhi. And most of the protesters are Sikh farmers from Punjab. And even if the general populace had a feeling about this, it mostly turned negative after the shameful happenings on 26th January (India's Republic Day, the day the constitution of independent India was applied). These "protesters" carried out a raid similar to the US Capitol attack. And with that, any public support evaporated exactly like in the US

dirtyid 6y ago

Modi first leader with majority in 30 years + populism + compliant media, i.e. generational opportunity to get things done. Regardless of how one feels about Modi + BJP he has power to push through big reforms despite dysfunctional nature of democracy at India scale. Whether intention is genuine or results are productive is another matter. IMO things will get messier until March, farmers incentivized to return to fields to work. Farmers also only bloc large enough to make Modi blink.

satya71 6y ago

They have a committed support from 33% that gives them control of the levers of govt (because first-past-the-post multi-party system), many times using extra-constitutional means.