In the vast expanse of the Delhi borders where boundaries blur between Haryana and Punjab, a sense of history reverberates. Farmers are back. So are the barbed wires, cemented slabs, and a sea of police force in battle gear.

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But, in the first of its kind action in any part of the country-the "Drone Tear Smoke Launcher" (DTSL) were used to drop teargas shells on farmers trying to breach the barricades. So far five protesting farmers have died and over 30 injured. The last agitator, Darshan Singh (62) died of cardiac arrest.  Following the deaths and injuries, the farmers have halted the protest till February 29,after which they would decide their next course of action.

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However, unlike 2020-21, the government this time looks unfazed. Of course there have been remarks and statements from the Delhi durbar. Union Agriculture Minister, Arjun Munda have been going through the rituals of holding talks, Finance Minister, Nirmala Sithaaman spoke of a committee formed to negotiate with the farmers while the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mr Anurag Thakur urged the farmers "not to follow the path of violence." Besides rhetoric there seemed to be no urgency to deal with the matter. In 2020-21 hit by the farmers' protests, the Centre had withdrawn three contentious farm laws. This time, the Centre has not yet shown any sign of buckling.

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Sounding confident of remaining unscathed by the raging farmers' protest, a senior party functionary reminded that  despite the 2020-21 agitation, BJP had swept western Uttar Pradesh during the 2022 Assembly polls, Of the 126 assembly berths in 24 districts of western UP, BJP won 85 seats, only 15 down from 2017 state polls.

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The BJP "believes" that conferring Bharat Ratna on the Jat patriarch and one of the tallest farmer leaders, Chaudhary Charan Singh would "soften" the Jat farmers. The party was also optimistic that its move to firm up an alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal led by Charan Singh's grandson, Jayant Chadudhary would "defuse " the situation. Even though there have been reports of a RLD-BJP alliance, there has not yet been any formal announcement. Tilting towards the BJP, Jayant Chaudhary on Friday urged the farmers to have "patience" and assured them that a  "solution will be found."

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The protesting farmers have been demanding a legal guarantee for minimum support price(MSP), implementation of Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pension for farmers, farm labourers and farm debt waiver and withdrawal of police cases. They have also sought "justice" for victims of Lakhimpur Kheri violence, compensation for the families of the farmers who died during the 2020-21 agitation and reinstatement of Land Acquisition Act 2013.  So far they rejected the government's latest proposal to buy pulses, maize and cotton crops at guaranteed prices for five years.

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The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha spearheading the movement announced that the farmers "will stay put" at the interstate borders, Shambhu and Khnauri till February 29 when the next course of action would be decided.

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The BJP spin doctors indicated that the farmers' protest "will not have the desired impact" mainly because of the Ram Mandir issue in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. An internal survey of the party indicated that the BJP was expected to get at least 70 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP because of Ram Mandir. The BJP has also launched a strong campaign to pitch Ram Mandir against the farmers' protest. The UP chief minister, Yogi Adityanath has gone on record saying that following the overwhelming response to the construction of Ram temple, the Opposition parties were now "misleading" the farmers.

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The party strategists were of the opinion that the ongoing farmers' protest was likely to "trigger counter polarisation"  since it was dominated by the Jat Sikhs. It was argued that following the domination of the Jat Sikhs other communities including Gujjars would throw their weight behind the BJP in UP and Haryana.

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As for Punjab after the deaths and injury of the protesting farmers,  the Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) was finding it difficult to move ahead with the talks of an alliance with the BJP in the state.