What do pop singer Rihanna who has over a 100 million followers on Twitter, environmental activist Greta Thunberg, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, Hollywood actor John Cusack, and US Vice-president Kamala Harris’s niece, the lawyer and bestselling author Meena Harris, have in common?
The answer is that they’ve all taken up verbal cudgels on behalf of the Indian farmers who are agitating against the government’s proposed agri reforms.
The government’s peremptory announcement of the reforms, the police’s heavy-handed attempts to suppress the subsequent protest by farmers, and the consequent backlash of rioting in Delhi on Republic Day, have made the issue a global cause celebre. Or, rather, a cause celebrity.
A number of celebrities, in show business and other centres of public limelight, are joining the fray by rooting for the farmers from the sidelines, like spectators do at a keenly contested cricket or football match.
And like many who go to watch such sporting events, most of those who are pitching in for the farmers have little or no knowledge of the finer points of what they are witnessing.
Ignorance is said to be bliss. And the self-appointed cheerleaders for the farmers are, by and large, blissfully ignorant about the ground realities of the case.
Though the government bungled badly in trying to bulldoze the reforms through, the proposed laws actually benefit farmers by giving them the choice to sell to the best bidder, instead of through mandis controlled by extortionist middlemen who benefit the most at the expense of both the agriculturist and the consumer.
By providing an opportunity to eliminate the role of the mandi middlemen, the reforms would be to the advantage of the farmers and their direct customers. A win-win situation for all.
So why are these supposedly pro-farmer celebs voicing their opposition to the reforms? A good question. The answer to which might lie in the nature and obligation of being a famous person, a celebrity. Being a celeb often entails publicly aligning oneself with a cause that’s hitting the headlines, which the farmers’ agitation is doing.
It’s become part of celeb show biz. Or sow biz.
Disclaimer
This article is intended to bring a smile to your face. Any connection to events and characters in real life is coincidental.
Top Comment
S. SUNDARARAMAN SRINIVASAN
49 minutes ago
Indian political yoga postures - in knots & knots - has gone global viral now-- thanks to excessive reaction to few tweets recently in pseudo-nationalistic leverage of political handles, bhakt/troll handles....? -- TRUST DEFICITS due to neglect of the farmers for years are crux of the problem -- which just can't be tackled by shutting down Parliament (winter session unilaterally cancelled) - now opposition walk out from day 1 not covered by news items adequately/shadowed ...... small marginal farmers (87%) would be worst hit - root causes - viz., lack of adequate rural infra....unmet tall poll promises of building several thousands of storage spaces (to save farmers from distress sale in bumper harvests) .... no alternate viable markets, viz., apolitical effective nascent mini-markets in lieu of politically corrupt APMCs, Mandis, etc.....near monopolistic tracks of cronies/biggies in cozy clubs that clocked 35% abnormal rise during pandemic/economic crises period.....half the population now facing derailed lives & uncertainties.........such grave basic burning issues can't be tackled so easily by a bunch of nobly worded perfunctory papers, .... more popularly known as quick-fix F Laws.............? -- High time democratic processes, wisdom/foresight are restored soon......? Gok... Read More