Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Saini holds a plough along with farmers as they meet him to thank for purchase of all crops at Minimum Support Price (MSP), at Kandela in Jind on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Even as the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in Haryana sounded poll bugle with its announcement of procuring all crops from farmers on minimum support price (MSP), the decision appears to be failing to cut the ice with the farmers and farm outfits.
The Assembly election in Haryana is due in October this year, and, the decision surrounding the MSP among a few other farmer’s related decisions, is being seen as an attempt to woo the farming community, as the party found itself at the receiving end of farmers’ anger during the poll campaign of the recent Lok Sabha election in the rural areas of the State.
Farmer groups have blamed the BJP for adopting an anti-farmer stance on their demands, including giving a legal guarantee on minimum support price for crops. Also, the party faced farmers’ wrath on the controversial farm laws, withdrawn by the Union government.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP suffered a setback, whose tally was down from 10 to five in the State. Notably, the BJP has been in power in Haryana since 2014.
At a rally in Kurukshetra this week, Chief Minister Nayab Saini stated that the State government purchased 14 crops at MSP, and now all other crops in Haryana will be procured at the MSP, making Haryana the first State in the country to procure 24 crops at the MSP. On August 5, the Cabinet gave a nod to the announcement. However, it appears to have failed to captivate the farming community.
Several farmers and farmers outfits are seeing the announcement through the prism of the upcoming election, which they believe is nothing beyond an ‘election stunt’.
“This announcement is nothing but an election stunt. If the government had been serious about farmers, they would have taken this decision years back as they had been in power for nearly 10 years, not just when the Assembly election was around the corner. The announcement is hollow, and I don’t trust them,” said Sanju Gundiana, who has sown paddy on nearly 17 acres of his farm in Yamuna Nagar.
The 55-year-old Amrik Vasati of Kalanaur village in Radaur town, who has sown paddy and poplar trees in around 11 acres of land, said the critical point is the implementation of an assured procurement mechanism, which has been lacking for most of the crops. “Unless the government ensures assured purchase of my crop, I and other farmers would continue to face problems. At the fag end of their regime, the BJP government has made an on MSP, if they are sincere towards farmers then they should bring a legal guarantee on MSP. Without assured procurement, the announcement of MSP is only notional. The announcement is only an attempt to woo farmer’s vote,” he said.
Apprehensive about the State government’s announcement, Bharatiya Kisan Union, president of the Haryana unit Rattan Mann, said, “If the State government’s intent is clear then the government should bring legislation on the legal guarantee of MSP based on the Swaminathan Commission’s formula of C2+50% in the State Assembly session and prove its intentions, otherwise there’s no reason for farmers to have faith in the BJP,” he said.
“Our protest and struggle against the BJP will continue unless they show concrete steps on the ground in favour of the farming community,” he added.
