Farmers Movement Archive

SKM to go ahead with march to Parliament

On the relevance of the Lucknow rally, Mr Tikait said farmers retain the right to hold mahapanchayats. “The Lakhimpur probe is not on the right track as the Union Minister who was allegedly part of the conspiracy has not been questioned. The increase in the State Advised Price of sugarcane is not as per our expectations. It is still lower than in Haryana and Punjab. I don’t think we will be stopped but if the Government does it, it will do it at its own peril,” he said. Meanwhile, sources in the BKU said they were surprised that the Prime Minister chose to repeal the laws instead of promising a law on the MSP. No MSP guarantee In western U.P., the demand for the elusive statutory MSP guarantee has found much more political resonance than the three farm laws, which were in suspended animation. In fact, BJP leaders who had to do the explaining in villages would crib that promulgation of farm laws has given life to an old demand that no government would like to fulfil. “No wonder, the Prime Minister chose to repeal the farm laws as giving guaranteed MSP would have hurt the corporate friends more,” said a BKU source, laughing at the way farmers had tied up the BJP in knots on the issue. SAP of sugarcane In fact, a few weeks back, the talk in the BKU circles was that before the U.P. Assembly election, the State Government would increase the SAP of sugarcane and the Central Government would accept the demand for an MSP law. “We told the RSS functionaries and top officials who approached us that we understand the compulsions of the government in revoking the farm laws as it would spiral demands for the repeal of Citizenship Amendment Act and reading down of Article 370. We don’t want to put the PM in a spot. Amendments in the farm laws and the MSP law would have resolved the logjam. It seems the decision [to repeal the laws] was spurred by some internal tussle in the BJP and/ or the party wants to use the issue to create a Hindu-Muslim divide,” said a senior BKU leader, requesting anonymity, referring to Muslim voices on the repeal of CAA. Observers say the ruling party was threatened by the increasing social cohesion under the farmer umbrella and it would have affected BJP’s vote banks in the caste-ridden U.P. Improved formula Interestingly, while the RSS-affiliate Bhartiya Kisan Sangh denies the threat of increased social bonding, its leaders in western U.P. admit the real issue in the region was the statutory MSP guarantee. “We have been putting forth even a better formula whereby farmers should get 20% above the cost incurred which should be corrected as per inflation,” said a BKS leader from Muzaffarnagar. During the farmers’ agitation against the contentious farm laws, Mr. Tikait carefully cultivated the demand for MSP to make his supporters join the farmers from Haryana and Punjab who were more affected by the laws. Invoking his father Mahendra Singh Tikait’s formula, he would say the cost of three quintals of wheat should be equal to ten grams of gold. “In 1967, when the Government fixed the MSP of wheat at Rs. 76 per quintal the rate of gold was Rs. 200 per tola . A farmer could buy 10 grams of gold by selling three quintals of wheat. At that time the monthly salary of a primary teacher was Rs. 70. Today, the price of gold is above Rs. 40,000 per tola and the MSP of wheat is Rs. 1,975 per quintal.” Earthy approach It is this earthy approach that planted the idea of guaranteed MSP in farmers’ minds, and now with the “black laws” being repealed, they feel that MSP law is also an achievable target. “In our region, there is a proverb that when an opponent falls during a battle, he gets two extra kicks,” said a BKU leader, explaining the farmers’ decision to stay put. “Now you will even higher attendance at the Lucknow mahapanchayat,” said Rajveer Singh, BKU state vice-president.

The Hindu

2021-11-21

November 21 2021 00:00 IST