Farmers threaten to campaign against BJP in Assembly polls if woes not addressed
Dubbing the ‘Kisan mahapanchayat’ as ‘Mission Uttar Pradesh-Uttarakhand’, thousands of farmers from Uttar Pradesh (UP) and neighbouring States gathered at Muzaffarnagar for a meeting aimed at “saving the country.” The farmer leaders slammed the Government for “selling the country to corporate.”
The farmer leaders threatened that if their issues were not addressed, they would campaign against the BJP in next year’s State elections in UP. They dubbed the Mahapanchayat as “Mission Uttar Pradesh-Uttarakhand”, indicating their plans to focus on the two BJP-ruled States where elections will be held next year.
While addressing the Mahapanchayat, Bharatiya Kisan Union spokesperson Rakesh Tikait called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders “rioters” and said the party should be given a drubbing in the 2022 UP Assembly polls. The farmer unions also announced that the upcoming Bharat Bandh will be observed on September 27 instead of September 25 that was announced earlier.
“He (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) is selling everything. We will tell people what all is being sold off. There will be publicity of the PM. Electricity, water, etc are being sold off. Is it wrong to tell people these things”, Tikait asked.
He claimed the country’s railways, airlines and airports were being “sold” along with “privatisation of electricity” and “sale of roads”.
“The banks are being sold just like FCI land is being given to Adani. ‘Sale of India’ boards have been put up and the purchasers are Ambani and Adani,” he alleged referring to the top industrialists. He also claimed that the State-run energy giant Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and fuel retailer Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) are in “danger”.
Asserting that these meetings will be held across the country, Tikait said they have to stop the country from getting sold. “Farmers should be saved, the country should be saved; business, employees and youth should be saved — this is the aim of the rally.”
The second Mahapanchayat will be held in Varanasi (which is Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency) as well as in Lucknow, Tikait said. “When the Government will invite us for talks, we will go. The farmers’ agitation will continue until the Government fulfills our demands.
The struggle for Independence continued for 90 years, so I have no idea for how long this agitation will run,” he said.
Several political parties are also using the occasion to extend support to farmers to press home the message that they empathise with the concerns of rural folks. The BJP has termed the ‘Kisan mahapanchayat’ an “election meeting” and accused its organisers of indulging in politics with Assembly polls approaching in a number of States. The BJP’s ‘Kisan Morcha’ head and MP Rajkumar Chahar claimed in a statement that it is politics and not concerns for farmers which have been on the agenda of those behind the ‘mahapanchayat’.
“This was very much a political and election meeting. The Opposition and these farmer union leaders have been using the farmers to engage in politics,” Chahar said. He claimed that no Government has done so much for farmers as the one led by Modi has in the last seven years. Muzaffarnagar is a constituency of Union Minister Sanjiv Balyan, considered as Jat-dominated area.
Referring to Modi, Adityanath and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as “outsiders”, farmer leader Tikait said he has no objection if they become prime minister after winning polls from Uttarakhand or Gujarat.”But on the soil of Uttar Pradesh, these rioters will not be tolerated,” he said.
Hundreds of participants reached Muzaffarnagar on Saturday while scores arrived in groups from various states and parts of Uttar Pradesh through the night. By early morning, the four parking areas for tractor trolleys and buses were buzzing with activity even as groups from different states could be seen going about their preparations. Medha Patkar, Yogendra Yadav, Naresh Tikait, Balbir Singh Rajewal were present at the mahapanchayat.
“This (Muzaffarnagar) is the sugarcane belt. There was a Government which had raised the sugarcane price by Rs 80, while another Government had increased it by Rs 50. Is the Adityanath Government weaker than these two dispensations? It did not increase the price even by one rupee. This Government should be given ‘vote ki chhott’ (electoral defeat). The slogan of ‘fasalon ke daam nahi, to vote nahi’ (no fair price for crops, no votes) will have to be raised,” Tikait said at the mega rally.
“The mills owe over Rs 12,000 crore to sugarcane farmers. The Yogi Government has not increased the SAP even by a rupee. The movement started over the demand to repeal three black laws and MSP. Don’t forget the night of January 28. That night brought together the people of the country. If we have governments like this, there will be riots. During (Mahendar) Tikait saheb’s time, this land used to witness the slogan of ‘Allah hu akbar’, ‘har har Mahadev.’ Ye todne ki baat karte hai, hum jodne ki baat karte hai,” he said.