The Protesting Farmer Is Caught Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea 'They do not understand that if the virus does not kill us, the three farm laws certainly will.' Farmers protest at the Haryana-Punjab border. Photo: Twitter/@KisanEktaManch_ Itâs an old trick, and one that rulers have used since times immemorial. When things arenât going well, shift the focus from your own incompetence and blame the most vulnerable. It, therefore, comes as no great surprise that as the COVID-19 pandemic ravages the national capital, TV channels sympathetic to the government have now started blaming the horrific state of affairs in the city on âfarmers blocking oxygen trucks coming into the city.âÂ