Behind Khattar govt’s U-turn on NSA against farm leaders, fear of rural blowback, Congress ‘gain’

The BJP-led Haryana government on Friday promptly backtracked from its decision to invoke the National Security Act (NSA), 1980 against farmer leaders protesting along the state’s border with Punjab.

Hours after announcing action would be taken against farmer leaders under the NSA, the Haryana Police on Friday morning reversed its decision. Officials also clarified that the police had not yet invoked the NSA against the farm leaders and had only “initiated the process”.

Inspector General of Police (Ambala) Sibash Kabiraj said, “This is to clarify that the matter of invoking provisions of the National Security Act on a few farm union leaders in the Ambala district has been reconsidered and it has been decided that the same will not be invoked.”

A senior official in the state government led by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar admitted that invoking the NSA against the farmer leaders would have proved “counterproductive” and invited outrage not only from the farmers but also other sections of society. “In such a scenario, we took a prompt decision on it,” the official said.

The announcement to invoke the NSA came just two days after a 22-year-old agitating farmer from Punjab died following a confrontation with the Haryana Police.

Farmer leaders and other activists saw the Haryana government’s NSA move as an attempt to suppress their voices. Bharatiya Kisan Union (Chaduni) leader Rakesh Bains alleged that such steps were a “sign of dictatorship”. “Such atrocities are aimed at stopping everyone from undertaking an agitation for their rights,” Bains said.

Another farmer leader from Jind, Azad Singh Palwa, said farmers will not be deterred by such steps. “We will fight till our demand for a legal guarantee of minimum support price