Idle protest

The Jat agitation, which has crippled train and road services through much of western Uttar Pradesh, appears to stem from more than just a demand for Other Backward Caste status. Some farmer leaders who recently held a press meet in Delhi had an interesting take on this. They said the big Jat farmers of the region have loads of free time between harvesting the sugarcane crop in November and December and the start of the wheat harvest in late March. “This is the time you will find the maximum agitation from farmers of this region," a leader said. Last year a protest by sugarcane farmers followed a similar timeline. Hopefully, this time, too, the Jat agitation will end soon since the wheat harvest starts after Holi.