Farmers, who form a large voter base in the agrarian state of Haryana, will hold the key for the major political parties in the multi-cornered electoral battle on 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
As all the political parties in the fray—Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal, Jannayak Janta Party-Aam Aadmi Party combine and Bahujan Samaj Party-Loktantra Suraksha Party combine –are leaving no stone unturned to woo the farming community in Haryana, issues including loan waiver, implementation of Swaminathan report and minimum support price (MSP) of crops will weigh heavily on farmers’ mind when they go to vote on May 12 in Haryana.
According to the 2011 census data, the total rural population in Haryana is 1.65 crore, which is 65.21 per cent of its total population and are engaged primarily in farming and other related activities.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have been tom-tomming his government’s achievements in the farm sector and highlighting Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, Fasal Bima Yojana among other initiatives during election rallies, the farmers in Haryana remain divided over which political party can best serve their interests this time.
In Haryana, the maiden BJP Government is accused of retracting from its poll promises and ignoring the plight of farmers. Be it the issue of loan waiver, non-implementation of Swaminathan report, decision of scraping Dadupur Nalvi irrigation project, the farmers’ outfits have in the past five years launched several statewide agitation against the ruling BJP.
The political analysts feel that the ruling BJP may face the ire of farming community on the issue of loan waiver in the Lok Sabha polls.
The farm debt waiver had remained a crucial issue in the last year’s elections to five state assemblies in the country and the Congress’ victory in three Hindi heartland states – Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan was propelled by agrarian distress and party’s promise of loan waiver.
For the Lok Sabha polls 2019, eradicating the agrarian distress and increasing farmers’ income remain the top promises made by both ruling BJP and Congress to woo the farmers.
The BJP, in its Sankalp Patra has promised, to launch a pension scheme for all small and marginal farmers and to provide short-term new agriculture credit-card loans up to Rs 1 lakh at a zero per cent interest rate. The saffron party, in its manifesto has also talked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to double farmers’ income by 2022 and mentioned already launched Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana to ensure financial support to marginal or poor farmers.
On the other hand, the Congress, in its manifesto, has promised to waive outstanding farm loans in other states, similar to how it acted after coming to power in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The party also promises to prevent criminal proceedings against farmers for failing to repay debt, a separate Kisan budget and to re-design the BJP government’s failed crop insurance scheme.
Eyeing the farmers’ vote bank, the BJP led Haryana Government has in its budget 2019-20 also announced to launch a new scheme to provide financial and social security cover to families of farmers in possession of land of up to five acres. A ‘Haryana Kisan Kalyan Pradhikaran’ was also set up last year in the state in a bid to appease the angry farming community.
Now, amidst the election season, the leaders of both the BJP and Congress are drawing attention to their poll promises during campaigning while the farmers’ outfits are busy holding meetings to raise demands of complete loan waiver, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report, higher MSP for their produce, retirement allowance, medical insurance for farmers among others besides making an appeal to the farmers to elect their representative carefully this time.
Haryana Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) president Gurnam Singh Chaduni, while talking to The Pioneer said, “There is a lot of resentment among farmers against the BJP Government and we have decided to support those party candidates who can defeat the BJP nominees in the state.”
On poll promises made by the BJP and Congress, he said that Congress has promised separate budget for agriculture sector which will be a good initiative if implemented. On the other hand, the BJP has not mentioned anything about loan waiver or Swaminathan report in its manifesto, he said.
Gurnam Singh, who is also the president of Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Party (RKMP), formed to raise issues of farmers in Haryana Assembly polls due to be held later this year, said we are holding public meetings and making an appeal to the farmers to support those candidates in the elections who can defeat the BJP. We will not support any particular party in the elections, he added.
While the BKU president is busy endorsing his anti-BJP stand in Haryana, another farmers’ leader in the state says that the farmers are divided this time in favor of both BJP and Congress.
Shamsher Singh Dahiya, Haryana president of the BKU (Ambawata), another faction of farmers’ union said, “We had very big expectations from Prime Minister Narendra Modi but the BJP failed to implement its poll promises. The farmers associated with our organization are supporting the mahagathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh but the farmers are divided in Haryana.”
Many factors including Jat and non-Jat divide, division in Jat-centric INLD and nationalism have left the farmers confused in the state. Haryana has a tradition of sending men from families, especially in rural areas, to defence forces and BJP’s nationalism narrative has influenced some voters here, he said.
Mentioning how the bitter Jat and non-Jat divide in Haryana is dividing the farmers’ vote, Dahiya said, “While a section of non-Jat farmers are likely to go in favor of both BJP and Congress, the farmers belonging to Jat community are likely to vote for Congress this time as Jat-centric party -INLD is divided now.”
About BJP Government’s ambitious Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana (PMKSY) scheme, he said that many farmers have received the first installment of Rs 2000 under the scheme but a large section of farmers still remain unhappy with the BJP over the faulty crop insurance scheme and non-implementation of Swaminathan report.
Rattan Mann, Haryana president of BKU (Mann faction), another farmers’ body in the state, said, “This time, we have left it to the wisdom of farmers to decide who to support.”
“We are not holding any public meetings or rallies. In the past, all political parties had made big promises to the farming sector during election time but did nothing after coming to the power. Be it BJP or Congress, all political parties have failed to address the grievances of farmers,” he added.
Apparently, with the farmers’ outfits seething with anti-government sentiment due to multiple gaps in implementation of flagship crop insurance scheme, non-implementation of Swaminathan report and no promise of farm loan waiver, it remains to be seen whether the farmers would again go in favor of BJP or choose Congress or other regional parties in the fray.