Farmers’ Protests: The Moral Hegemony

The year-long farmers’ protests have been recently called off, arguably on the terms that were set by the farmers. It is true that the farmers did achieve their demands almost on moral rather than political grounds. For example, they did not seem to lobby for political support either inside or outside Parliament, albeit political support was extended to the protests by the opposition parties in Parliament. Although the thrust of the protest was to demand the repeal of the three farm laws that have a direct bearing on farmers’ concerns, however, the protests should not be seen in such instrumental terms and hence be driven by limiting political objects to achieving group interests. The protests, in fact, had an immediate, morally mediated, and much larger hegemonic impact that brought under its normative influence many diverse social groups who felt threatened to be swept away by the authoritarian egoism of the ruling regime.

The immediate impact of what the moral hegemony could create was seen in terms of the withdrawal of the three farm laws, and in hindsight, in the moral force of such hegemony, it also led to the authoritarian ego meltdown.