Ending speculation of ‘cracks’ within the alliance partners—the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), Haryana Deputy Chief Minister and senior JJP leader Dushyant Chautala on Thursday said that the Central Government has accepted farmers’ demand of assuring minimum support price (MSP) in writing and it is now up to the farmers’ unions to decide on the same.
He also reiterated his earlier stand where he had said if the MSP is abolished, he would resign from the government.
Talking to reporters after an informal meeting with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his cabinet colleagues at his residence in Chandigarh, Dushyant said, "The Centre has accepted the demand of the farmers by assuring the MSP in writing.”
"The demand of the farmers that the Union Government must ensure MSP in writing has been fulfilled on Wednesday. It is now up to the farmers’ unions to decide the next course of action on the government proposal," he said.
On his party leaders lending support to the farmers, the Deputy CM said: "I am saying that I am a farmer first. When did I ever deny that? But it is our responsibility to ensure an adequate price for their crops."
He further said, “Our government, even in the last procurement and this procurement season, has ensured that each and every penny of farmers’ produce goes into their bank account. Even Punjab has not been able to do so till date. Rajasthan could not even begin the process.
We are assuring that we shall procure the crop in future and also put the entire money for it in the farmer’s bank account.
We hope that when MSP comes in writing, demands that are being raised by the farmers of other states shall also get fulfilled.”
Notably, the Centre had on Wednesday sent a 20-page proposal to the agitating farm unions, offering significant concessions ranging from a written assurance on continuation of MSP-based procurement and ensuring parity in transactions inside and outside existing Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandis. However, the farmer unions have rejected the proposals.
Talking about the ongoing agitation by farmers at various borders of Delhi, Dushyant said the Haryana Government is ensuring that law and order is maintained at the protest sites.
Over 1,000 employees of civil administration, besides doctors and health care staff, red cross staff, and sanitation workers are working round the clock to ensure the safety and security of the farmers who have gathered at such sites, he said.
The JJP has been facing criticism within the party for not walking out of the alliance on the issue of the farmers and ‘clinging to power’.
The party has also been facing the ire of the people on Twitter with thousands trolling Dushyant Chautala by using the hashtag ‘Dushyant_Kisan Ya_Kursi’.
In an alliance, the JJP had extended support to the BJP, which had won 40 seats in the Assembly polls in 2019, six short of the majority mark.
The JJP—a defector of the state’s once prominent regional outfit Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), is primarily a rural Jat-centric party with farmers as its core vote bank.