The increasing intolerance of the ruling dispensation at the centre towards legitimate dissent is a reflection on the state of democracy. This has been borne out by the arrest of journalists, activists, lawyers, poets, and students, trolling of public intellectuals, and hounding of public-spirited media organisations. The government, using its ever-present spectre of policing, is wielding imprisonment, suspicion, and direct violence as its strategy to deal with dissent and protest. The government has become more intolerant, particularly of the farmers’ protests, because these represent a solidarity of conscientious activists across caste, class, and gender backgrounds. This solidarity is rooted in a democratic assertion against the incarceration of these activists, as well as challenges the state and party nexus aimed at dismantling the farmers’ protests.