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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Farmers scream 'vendetta'

While top leaders of both countries cheer, the reality on the ground is very different Mumbai : Top leaders in the US and India hailed the latest trade deal between the two leading democracies as at least 32 farmers ended their life in Maharashtra in January, officials said.   Farmers' leaders like All India Kisan Sabha President Dr. Ashok Dhawale and Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti Chairman Kishore Tiwari promptly slammed the NDA Government of 'vendetta' and 'victimising' the Indian...

Farmers scream 'vendetta'

While top leaders of both countries cheer, the reality on the ground is very different Mumbai : Top leaders in the US and India hailed the latest trade deal between the two leading democracies as at least 32 farmers ended their life in Maharashtra in January, officials said.   Farmers' leaders like All India Kisan Sabha President Dr. Ashok Dhawale and Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti Chairman Kishore Tiwari promptly slammed the NDA Government of 'vendetta' and 'victimising' the Indian agriculturists.   "On one hand the Union Budget has nothing spectacular for the farming community and on the other the government has virtually opened the doors for American agriculture corporations to enter India. This will further ruin our farmers," Tiwari told The Perfect Voice.   "The US-India trade deal is a clear vendetta against the farmers for their long and successful struggles against the BJP government in the past over seven years. Even the earlier agreements with the United Kingdom and the European Union and now the latest (USA) have been on the same lines," fumed Dr. Dhawale.   "There was no anticipated relief in the Budget 2026-2027, and there's a spate of suicides being reported from Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh mainly from the cotton and soybean regions. On the contrary our farmers are being punished for taking a stand against the government," Dr. Dhawale told The Perfect Voice.   Attacking the government, Tiwari said that PM Narendra Modi only talks of Atmanirbhar and Swadeshi but his actions are exactly contradictory.   Referring to the US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins hailing the US-India trade deal, both Tiwari and Dr. Dhawale fear that doom looms over the Indian farming community.   Rollins said on X today: "New US-India deal will export more American farm products to India's massive market, lifting prices, and pumping cash into rural America. In 2024, America’s agricultural trade deficit with India was $1.3 billion. India’s growing population is an important market for American agricultural products and today’s deal will go a long way to reducing this deficit." Dr. Dhawale said that the three big recently concluded free international trade agreements may be disastrous not only for the cotton-soybean farmers but the entire Indian agro-economy. Tiwari feels the distress in the farmlands is bound to worsen with such questionable FTAs as all the aid packages of successive Indian government's in the past 20 years have failed as they did not address the core issues affecting the farmers. "Instead, of MIGA, we seem to be obsessed with MAGA. The BJP must first make our own farmers prosperous before looking at the world," said Tiwari in a swipe at the government. Core farm issues ignored The AIKS and VJAS have stressed the need to issue the primary issues like input costs reduction, providing irrigation in dryland regions, monitoring and restoring soil health, effective reforms in the MSP, village base storage and processing facilities.   The two organisations also seek long-term credit policy to replace the existing political doles or loans waivers, attractive incentives for diversification from cash crops to food crops, millets, or pulses.   India–US trade deal has NOT been signed yet: Goyal Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the India–US trade deal has NOT been signed yet. He said it will be inked soon. He said core interests are protected: India’s priorities, farmers, MSMEs, dairy, and agriculture, remain non-negotiable. "India is negotiating, from a position of interest, not impulse," asserted Goyal.

Lingua Pragmatica

Updated: Mar 20, 2025

As Southern leaders like M.K. Stalin rage against Hindi, Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu offers a model of pragmatism over parochialism.

Chandrababu Naidu
Andhra Pradesh

Amid the cacophony of opposition in southern states to Hindi, Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu has taken a markedly pragmatic stance by remarking recently in the state Assembly that there was no harm in learning other languages. Hindi, Naidu noted, was useful for communication across India, particularly in political and commercial hubs like Delhi. His remarks, though avoiding explicit mention of the NEP, were widely seen as an endorsement of multilingualism and a rebuke to the linguistic chauvinism that has gripped parts of the South.


Few issues in India stir political passions quite like language. It is not merely a means of communication but a marker of identity, a relic of colonial resistance, and a source of political mobilization. In the southern states, where anti-Hindi sentiment has long been entrenched, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and its three-language formula have reignited old tensions. No state embodies this defiance more than Tamil Nadu, where the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led by M.K. Stalin has framed the policy as an assault on its linguistic autonomy.


Naidu’s words, welcomed by his ally and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, mark a sharp contrast with the DMK’s position. Tamil Nadu’s hostility towards Hindi dates back to the 1930s, when C. Rajagopalachari’s attempt to introduce it in schools met with fierce resistance. The anti-Hindi agitations of the 1960s cemented the DMK’s ideological stance, with its first Chief Minister, C.N. Annadurai, famously warning that Hindi imposition could push Tamil Nadu towards secession.


The question, however, is whether this rigid opposition serves Tamil Nadu’s interests. While Stalin, with an eye to the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, has been relentlessly portraying Hindi as a threat to his state’s regional identity, Naidu, a partner of the BJP-led Centre, is framing it as a tool for economic mobility. His argument is not that Hindi should replace Telugu or English but that it offers a competitive advantage.


The economic case for multilingualism is compelling. Indians who speak multiple languages tend to have better job prospects, higher earnings and greater geographic mobility. Andhra Pradesh’s Telugu-speaking diaspora is a case in point. Telugus make up a significant proportion of Indian-origin professionals in the United States, the Gulf, and Southeast Asia as Naidu pointed out, hinting that this success story was built not on linguistic rigidity but on adaptability.


In a country where inter-state migration is rising and where Hindi remains the most widely spoken language, refusing to learn it amounts to self-imposed isolation. Tamil Nadu’s approach, by contrast, risks limiting its youth. The DMK government has refused to implement the three-language policy, keeping schools strictly bilingual with Tamil and English. Its justification that Hindi is not necessary for global success could be true in a narrow sense but ignores the domestic context. If Tamil filmmakers can dub their movies into Hindi to expand their audience, why should Tamil students be denied access to the language that could open more doors for them within India?


The DMK has accused successive central governments, particularly under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of pushing Hindi at the expense of regional languages. Yet, rejecting Hindi outright is an overcorrection. The reality is that Hindi is an important language in India’s economic and political landscape. Naidu’s position, one of accommodation rather than confrontation, offers a middle ground that other Southern leaders would do well to consider.


Some states already recognize this. Karnataka, despite its own history of linguistic pride, has allowed Hindi to be taught as an optional language. Kerala, whose migrants work in Hindi-speaking regions and the Gulf, has been less hostile to Hindi education. Naidu’s model, balancing regional identity with practical necessity, offers a way forward. Languages should be embraced, not politicized. Southern leaders would do well to listen to him.

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