Monday’s countrywide bandh by farmers agitating over the past ten months opposing contentious legislation by the Modi government in the agriculture sector indicates their resolve not to give up their demand for a complete repeal of the controversial laws. In fact, the farmers’ unions leading the agitation have got increasingly confrontational against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre, threatening to campaign against it full tilt during the coming assembly elections in several states early next year. While there is little doubt that the farmer’s agitation would have an impact on one of the states going to the polls — Punjab — where it has ruptured ties between the BJP and its long-trusted ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the million-dollar question is whether the farmers’ protests highlighted by today’s bandh can topple the BJP juggernaut in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous and by far the most politically crucial state, which also faces an electoral mandate in a few months.
On the face of it, unlike Punjab and Haryana, where farmers have been up in arms across the states, the agitation in Uttar Pradesh is largely confined to a handful of districts in Western Uttar Pradesh close to the national capital, Delhi.