Farmers Hold Key To Haryana Polls

The peasantry in poll bound Haryana is emerging as the most powerful pressure group. Slowly but steadily it is the farmers who are turning out to be the most sought after segment and the poll campaign is largely around farm issues.

While the Congress has continued with persistent attacks on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on agricultural issues, the latter too has come up with counter punches on the same turf. Even the optics are largely around the peasantry till now. Haryana is a state where around 65% of the population still resides in the rural areas.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) which is an umbrella body of various farm organisations at the national level and has strong footprint in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh in particular has has already announced its intent to rally the people at large to ‘Expose, Oppose and Punish BJP’ in the Assembly elections.

The SKM claiming that this will eventually ensure implementation of minimum support price (MSP)@C2+50% (Swaminathan Commission formula) with guaranteed procurement and comprehensive loan waiver across India, and a priority to the small and middle farmers alongside agricultural workers.

The Swaminathan formula calls for fixing the MSP at least 50 per cent more than the comprehensive cost of production,

The SKM has stated, “The massive setback suffered by BJP across India in the just concluded 18th Lok Sabha elections- National Democratic Alliance (NDA) lost in 159 rural constituencies, was mainly due to the anger among farmers, workers, youth and marginalised sections including minorities, Dalits and Adivasis against the pro-corporate policies imposed by the Narendra Modi government.

“Another drubbing to BJP in these Assembly elections will amount to a litmus test for farmers to make certain their victory in the struggle across India against the corporatization of agriculture and in defence of their livelihoods.”

The SKM has contested the announcement made by Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini to procure all crops on MSP.

“The Haryana Chief Minister had attempted to misguide the farmers by falsely claiming MSP for 24 crops consciously hiding the fact that the procurement rate is not based on C2+50% but the current rate of A2+FL+50%. (Cost of production includes all paid-out expenses, both in cash and kind, along with the derived value of unpaid family labour).

“The C2+50% rate of paddy, one of the major crops of Haryana is Rs.3012/quintal while the current rate is Rs. 2300/quintal means less by Rs.712/quintal. Paddy farmers alone in Haryana had a loss of Rs.3851.90 crore in the year 2023-24.

“Similarly though the workers movement were consistently in struggle demanding minimum wage of Rs.26000 per month, rolling back of four pro corporate labour codes and regularisation of their jobs in schemes including Anganwadi, ASHA and mid-day meals, the BJP led state government in Haryana and the Modi Government had brutally ignored these huge mass sections,” it said in a recent statement.

The SKM has once again raised the issue of building a memorial in the memory of 736 farmers who had died during the farmers’ movement against the three controversial farm laws that were eventually repealed.

“By joining the 385 days long historic farmers struggle, 736 farmer martyrs made supreme sacrifice to save agriculture and forced the union government to repeal the three anti-national farm Acts.

“The BJP led government of Haryana has insulted those martyrs and did not build an appropriate Martyrs Memorial at Singhu or Tikri borders so far. The SKM appeals to the people of Haryana to uphold its great tradition of respecting martyrs and give befitting reply by massively rejecting the pro- corporate BJP,” it stated.

The SKM and the joint platform of central trade unions have resolved to convene a ‘Farmers and Workers Panchayat’ on September 7 at Hisar where a concrete action plan of campaigns at the ground level will be discussed and announced.

The Congress has launched a campaign on the social media trying to remind the farmers of the stand of the Manohar Lal Khattar led BJP government in the state when the farmers moved to Delhi in November 2020 and also later when they were sitting on the borders for the next almost 13 months.

On the ground, it has been the former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda who has been leading the charge around the issues pertaining to the peasantry.

On Monday, he claimed that the BJP government is nowhere close to the Congress in terms of increasing the MSP and giving it to the farmers. He claimed that the government data itself is proof of the fact that the MSP increased many times more during the Congress tenure than during the BJP government.

“The BJP only worked to put a brake on the pace of MSP increase and pushed the farmers into losses. This is the reason why farmers of the entire country including Haryana are agitating today,” he said on the sidelines of his interaction with the farmers at his residence.

Hooda backed his claims with statistics claiming when Congress came to power in 2004-05, the rate of wheat was only Rs 640 per quintal which was raised to Rs 1450 per quintal. The rise was by 126.5%.

“But during the entire tenure of BJP till date, the rate of wheat has increased by only 51.7%. That is, less than half as compared to the Congress,” he said.

Similarly he claimed that in case of paddy the rise was from Rs 560 to Rs 1360 which translates into 143%. He said that the BJP increased the rate by only 60%.

Hooda added that in the case of cotton there was an increase of 130% from Rs 1760 to Rs 4050 while the increase during the BJP regime was only 57.3%. He gave similar figures for millets and sugarcane as well.

He further claimed that even in the matter of providing the MSP to the farmers, the BJP government has been far behind the Congress.

“The reason for this is that the Congress understands the true meaning and utility of the MSP. Therefore, during our tenure, we made a system that as soon as the crop arrives in the market, the government agencies will immediately start buying it.

“Due to this, the prices of the crop automatically increased in the market and private agencies also had to buy the crop of the farmers at the MSP or the higher rates. In this way, most of the farmers of the state used to get a fair price for their crops.

“But BJP works exactly opposite to this. Whenever farmers bring their crops to the market, no government agency buys them. Farmers have to wait for several days for the procurement to begin.

“Farmers are compelled to go to private agencies, which buy their crops at a rate much lower than the MSP. Due to this, the price of crops in the market falls and farmers suffer huge losses.

“When farmers sell their crops in large quantities, then the government starts procurement and due to this most farmers are deprived of the MSP.

“When the Congress government is formed this system will be changed and procurement at the MSP will be ensured for the farmers,” he added.

On Sunday while interacting with a delegation of farmers, rice millers and commission agents Hooda had accused the BJP of pushing farmers into losses as per its fixed policy.

Hitting at the ban on the export of parboiled rice and high export duty on Basmati, he said, “Due to this, neither the farmers nor the traders are getting the benefit of high prices in the international market.

“Therefore, taking a decision in the interest of all, the government should immediately end the ban on the export of paddy and also remove the export duty imposed on Basmati.”

Hooda claimed that during the Congress tenure, the farmers used to get high rates for paddy because there was no ban on export at that time.

Due to high prices in the international market, the price of paddy often went above the MSP in the local markets and farmers used to earn a lot. Due to export, the farmers and businessmen used to benefit, and the country's economy also used to benefit from it.

“But every time the BJP government bans the export of paddy before its arrival. Last year also in July 2023, the central government first banned the export of tukda rice and then banned the export of Parmal rice.

“Just before the arrival of paddy, in the month of August, the government fixed the minimum export price of Basmati at $ 950 per tonne and imposed 20% export duty on it. Due to this, the country's paddy remained stuck in the warehouses.

“Today, even after one year, the situation is that the rice warehouses are full. There is no space in them to keep new rice.

“Rice millers are ready to give rice to the government but there is no space in the government warehouses. 25 percent of the outstanding rice is still lying in the mills.

“Traders allege that the government is unnecessarily harassing them in the name of physical verification. The custom milling charge has also been reduced from Rs 15 to Rs 10.

“Traders do not even get money for the tags put on the sacks. On top of this, the BJP government has created such a mess of portals that everyone is troubled by it. The portal always closes at the time of need,” Hooda added.

The BJP has been countering the Congress campaign with the claim that it has given the most farmer friendly government to the state over the last 10 years. It has launched a very aggressive campaign against Hooda in particular over an alleged change in land use (CLU) scam during the erstwhile Congress regime in the state.

The BJP has been saying on the social media that, “Haryana has not forgotten the dark period of Bhupinder Hooda when the lands of the farmers were bought at throwaway prices under CLU threatening them with Section 4-6 and later those lands were handed over to the builders for crores of rupees.

Bhupinder Hooda ji when will you give an account of your CLU doing?”

Another aggressive campaign launched by the party is under the tagline of “‘Nayab Singh yo nahi bolta, Kaam bole saai’ (Nayab Singh Saini does not speak for himself, his works speak)”.

The party has been claiming that it was under Saini’s short tenure that Panchayats got the power to get works done up to Rs 21 lakhs. Another claim being made is around the ‘Abiyana’ (canal water utility) charges with claims that an amount of Rs 133 crore has been waived off.

The party has been reminding the people of the reported promises made by Saini on August 4 in Kurukshetra where the announcement around Abiyana was made alongside that of purchase of all crops in the state at MSP.

Saini had also announced the payment of Rs 137 crore rupees in a week for the damage caused to crops due to natural calamity before 2023.

He had also promised that if the transformers of the farmers installed by the power corporations get damaged, these transformers would be replaced by the corporations at their own expense and no fee will be charged from the farmers.

Saini had said that all the companies across the country selling three star motors for tubewells would be able to register themselves on the department’s portal and farmers would be able to buy three star motors of any company.

He charged that the Congress will have to give an account to the public as it had acquired thousands of acres of land from farmers and given it to the capitalists. He claimed that his government did not acquire even an inch of the farmers’ land.

Recently during one of the ‘Nonstop Haryana Jan Ashirwad’ rallies at Nilokheri in Karnal district, Saini said that this area comprising Nilokheri, Tarawadi and Nising is a Basmati region and has a significant contribution in the economy of entire Haryana.

“The BJP has brought about equal and holistic development in entire Haryana by ending decades of discrimination. By telling lies repeatedly, the Congress party has tried to mislead the people and push them into poverty like Himachal.”

The BJP has been mixing its campaign while playing up its narratives around nationalism. It has been trying to corner its opponents on the emotive issues of soldiers from Haryana laying down their lives for the nation.

The party has also been attacking the Congress for opposing the ‘transparency through portals’ saying this has resulted in checking corruption that was a norm before it came to power. It claimed that the poor farmers and youth of the state will not give an opportunity to the Congress to loot them.

The Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) that had emerged from the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and had gone on to become a part of the Khattar led BJP government has also been making claims around the farmers.

Party leader Dushyant Chautala had been the deputy CM till March this year when the BJP dumped its ally. The party has been claiming that it was Chautala who had ensured procurement of 14 crops in the state at MSP making Haryana the first state in the country to do so.

Meanwhile, if one talks of the optics, wrestler Vinesh Phogat continues to be in the headlines at the state level while keeping people guessing whether she would jump into the political arena this time.

Earlier there was a round of politics around her being sent to the Rajya Sabha for which she was reportedly under age. Her recent meeting, in the company of fellow wrestler Bajrang Punia, with the senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has once again led to speculations of her being fielded in the forthcoming Assembly polls by the grand old party.

Last week she appeared at the ongoing farmers’ protest at Shabhu border being carried out by the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non Political) for the last more than 200 days.

She reportedly said, “ “I have come to extend support to my family... the farmers of the country are in trouble, their problems should be resolved, in fact, it should be the first priority of the government to resolve their issues.

“The government should listen to the farmers. The government after the previous farmers’ protest made a few promises to them which it should fulfil.

“If the people of the country keep sitting (for protest) on the road it’s not good for the country. It’s been 200 days that farmers have been in protest but, sadly, the government is not listening.

Phogat reportedly went on to say, “At times we feel helpless at not being able to do anything for them. We represent the country at international levels but we could not do anything for our own family (farmers). I have come here to tell you that your daughter is with you. I request the government to listen to them.”

Whether she contests or not, Phogat has been a rallying point in the rural landscape ever since she returned from the recent Paris Olympics after being disqualified in the finals and denied a silver medal.

The echo of the protests by women wrestlers last year against alleged sexual harassment by former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh continues to ring across the villages. The added case of alleged sexual harassment of a female coach against former minister in the state Sandeep Singh further adds to the BJP’s woes.