Punjab’s farmers have hit the streets again. The sight of tractor convoys and waving farm union flags evoke the images of 2020-21 when an extended farmers protest took a violent turn.
This time, the Narendra Modi government seems confident the agitation will be short-lived, yet the images of farmers being tear-gassed and lathi-charged leads to serious questions about the Centre’s problem-solving approach or lack of it.
The Union Agriculture Minister is offering to initiate talks, but the grim crackdown on the protesters and the invoking of national security provisions by the Haryana government (later withdrawn) reveal the Modi government’s persistent tendency towar…
