Difference And Similarities Between Farmers Protest And Shaheen Bagh Protest?

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The winters of Delhi are bone-chilling! They freeze one into a kulfi! In December, not only the winters are coming, the protests are also coming. The December month in Delhi is synonymous with not only winters but also the birth of a new protest. Last year, the anti CAA protest of Shaheen Bagh had started in this very month, which later spread to many parts of the country and this year, in the month of December again, the farmers of Punjab stand at the doors of Delhi and just like earlier, the protest is spreading to several places. But the similarities do not end here. Upon observation, we found out that there are several similarities between the Shaheen Bagh and farmer protests.

Both protests are against the pride and the arrogance of the government. Making use of these similarities, trolls like Kangana tried their utmost to discredit these farmer protests. But such attempts proved to be unfruitful because there exist a lot of differences between the Shaheen Bagh and farmer protests as well. Today, we will try and find out what these similarities and critical differences between the Shaheen Bagh and Farmer protests are.


SIMILARITIES

Similarity number 1:ARBITARY LAWS

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The reason behind both of these protests is an arbitrary law that has been imposed on us without any discussion, debate or deliberation. What this has led to is the birth of suspicion in the minds of a section of the society. They are the Muslims in the case of CAA and the Farmers in the case of Farm Bills. Albeit the government has provided reassurances in both cases. For instance, in the case of CAA, they said that the Indian Muslims need not worry and that none of them would be sent to the detention centre. On the hand, the farmers have been assured the MSP, but the farmers are extremely smart. They refuse to trust them and have insisted that the bill be repealed first and then talks would follow. We do want to believe that since Modiji has done all of this, there must be a reason behind it! and that he must have done this for the betterment of the people. But then we are reminded about things like demonetization, GST, unemployment and lockdown. We can almost visualize the sinking GDP, but let's leave that aside and not talk about negative things because the government has been tracking people who do that

Similarity number 2: People are misguided 

In both of these cases, the ire of the people was termed as a "ploy of the opposition" by the government. They insisted that the opposition had encouraged the people and that it is not the fault of the government at all. It is the fault of Pakistan that drove Shaheen Bagh and it is the fault of Khalistan that has caused the farmers to reach the borders of Delhi. What is the role of the government? The government merely fabricates hyperboles and looks for a villain.

Similarity Number 3: Fake news that is spread                             by the IT cells 

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The IT cells have such fools who spread propaganda. Usually, their target is- Gandhi, Nehru, Sonia, Rahul etc. Or boycott Ola, Swiggy, Zomato, Sanpdeal, Tanishq, Red Label. But their entire focus shifts on the protesters during the time of protests. So then, a deluge of fake news about these protests started again. Sometimes 500 rupees are being distributed in Shaheen Bagh, Sometimes it is Biriyani and sometimes dadis (grandmothers) are available to participate in the farmer protests for 100 rupees a day. The motive remains the same: Malign the protesters, demoralize them and remove the public support backing them which was successful to an extent in the Shaheen Bagh protests. Making use of fake news like these, the Shaheen Bagh protesters were labelled as "anti-national", "tukde-tukde gang", "terrorists" or straightaway, "Pakistani". Now, the farmers who are mostly from Punjab, are being branded as "Khalistani" 

Similarity number 4: Bilkis Bano and Mahinder Kaur

This one is extremely interesting. Bilkis Bano dadi became the face of the Shaheen bagh protests. She stayed put for 100 days through the cold and the pain. This year, TIME magazine included her in the list of the most influential persons of the year and this irked the government even more. Another such photo went viral in the farmer protests. It was that of of Mahinder Kaur, who was supporting the farmer protests. This prompted Kangana to use her brain and she proclaimed on Twitter that such elderly ladies(daadis) are available to join the protests at Rs 100/day. What do I say about Kangana? That's her job- putting out four tweets a day. Two in the morning, two in the night. What I mean is that when Diljit Dosanjh took her to task regarding this tweet, then she had to shut down her vicious business.

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Similarity number 5: Traffic jam

The problem of traffic jams are a part of our daily lives in every city. On usual days, the public and the media do not even talk about it, the courts overlook it and the politicians do not give a toss, because they(the politicians) never get stuck in a traffic jam anyways.But, if by chance, there is a protest against the government somewhere, then suddenly the issue of traffic jam crops up. The politicians have a change of heart and their hearts being to beat for the nation. Suddenly, they're able to see the troubles that their countrymen are going through. This happened during the Shaheen Bagh protests and the same is happening during the farmer protests as well They harp along the lines of- 'How can you block the roads? That prevents the country from becoming a 5 trillion dollar economy! The blockades must be cleared'

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Similarity number 7: The flogging of the Godi media 

In Shaheen Bagh, there was sort of a ban on godi media. The people were aware that the godi media was only there to show discord Sudhir Choudhary and Deepak Chaurasia, were there to garner TRPs. But they had to go back after insults were hurled at them, the editors did not go to the farmer protests themselves. Instead, they sent their pawns. They were all welcomed heartily by the farmers. The godi media are having extremely bad days during this protests. These days, they are reporting with the help of concealed mics. Just like Shaheen Bagh, there were attempts to shut down the farmer protests, owing to corona. How could there be a protest during such times? The courts were requested to put an end to the protests to stop the spread of corona But the farmers protests are still ongoing because it has transcended to another level.

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DIFFERENCES

Difference Number 1: Community support

Shaheen Bagh protests were supported by the usual- progressives, lefts, liberals, constitutionals, centralists, lawyers and social workers. The list of supporters also included the usual suspects- Swara Bhaskar, Richha Chadda, Prakash Raj etc etc. But in the farmer protests, apart from the farmers, there were Punjabi stars - right from Diljeet Dosanjh, Ammy Virk, Mika Singh, Harbajan Singh to Harbajan Maan- all the Punjabis all across the world- even if they were a Minister in Canada or UK, they have provided the solid community support to the farmer protests which was missing in the case of Shaheen Bagh. In that case, several people of the community remained mute and the movement was unable to generate additional pressure.

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 Difference Number 2:Police Use

Another huge difference: Police crackdown As compared to Shaheen Bagh, we see lesser use of the police in the farmer protests, atleast until now. Last time, the police had barged into the campuses and thrashed the students. This time around, the police administration is digging trenches, using water cannons... Man! Who are you scaring with these water cannons? The Punjabis are going to rain dance in it. This was also possible because the children and relatives of a lot of farmers are either in the army or in the police and additionally, the international support that the farmers have generated for themselves has hindered any kind of police action.

Difference Number 3: Even the politicians are supporting the farmers. 

Some politicians that were against the Shaheen Bagh protests stand in solidarity with the farmers today. For example, our Kejriwal ji He had problems with the traffic jam during the time of Shaheen Bagh,. But the farmers have his full support. On the other hand, the former Chief Minister of Punjab, Prakash Singh Badal has returned his Padma Vibhushan in support of the farmers! It has happened for the first time, that someone took the credit and benefit from Modiji. Sunny Deol of the BJP has said that he is with the farmers but he is also with the government.  But what's important is that even the supporters of the government are not able to dismiss the farmer protests. This did not happen during the time of Shaheen Bagh.

Difference Number 4:No Negotiations In The Shahen Bagh Protest 

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The Shaheen Bagh protest went on for more than three months but the government showed no inclination towards negotiating or having a conversation with the protesters. Sure, some negotiators were appointed by the Supreme Court but that was only for the removal of the blockade. But the pressure mounted by the farmers is so immense that the government summoned the farmers- time and again- and even provided them with a written assurance and told them that MSP would remain in place. But this time, the control lies in the hands of the farmers. They have asked for the bill to be repealed and refused to be mollified by amendments and asked them (the government) to stop appeasing the corporates.


CONCLUSION

Two protests with the same motive "To embolden the voice of the citizens in the country and pressurize the government to repeal a bill". The motive of Shaheen Bagh was great but not a lot of people were able to get their strings attached to it. As for the farmer protests, it has definitely ruffled the feathers of the government now, everyone is understanding the problems of the farmers and are also becoming aware that one should not interfere with the farmers. 


Abhishek Rawat
ContentWriter
@DayLightMedia