The borders surrounding Delhi are poised for renewed tensions from Wednesday as protesting farmers have rejected the Government’s proposal for a five-year contract on the purchase of maize, cotton, and three types of pulses at the existing minimum support prices.
The possibility of chaos akin to the earlier disruptions on key entry points to Delhi looms large, with farmer groups from Noida and Greater Noida announcing plans to march to the Capital on Friday, demanding developed plots and increased compensation for their acquired land.
After rejecting the five-point out-of-the-box formula for the minimum support prices, farmers’ leader Sarwan Singh Pandher on Tuesday urged the Centre to convene a one-day Parliament session and bring legislation on MSP guarantee. He announced that they would be heading to Delhi on Wednesday.
His statement came a day after the farmer leaders participating in the “Delhi Chalo” agitation rejected the Centre’s proposal for procuring pulses, maize, and cotton at the MSP by government agencies for five years, saying it was not in favour of farmers.
Meanwhile, the Punjab and Haryana High Court also criticised protesting farmers camping at Shambhu border with hundreds of tractors and said tractor trolleys cannot be used on highways. The bench of Acting Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji also questioned the Punjab Government for allowing the assembly of farmers in such large numbers.
In a related development, former Punjab Chief Minister and BJP leader Amarinder Singh met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed a host of issues related to farmers. Singh said in a post on X, “Had a detailed meeting with Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi ji on wide-ranging issues related to Punjab, including the issues concerning the farmers.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) ordered blocking of 177 social media accounts and links related to the farmers’ protests on Monday to maintain “public order,” which include 35 Facebook links, 35 Facebook accounts, 14 Instagram accounts, 42 Twitter accounts, 49 Twitter links, 1 Snapchat account, and 1 Reddit account. While orders to Facebook and Twitter (now X) are commonplace, this is the first blocking order issued to Snap.
The protesting farmers on Tuesday received support from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who claimed that “lies” are being spread that the MSP guarantee is not feasible under the government’s budget. In a post in Hindi on X, Rahul claimed that ever since the Congress resolved to provide legal guarantee for MSP, “Modi’s propaganda machinery and media friendly to him have spread a barrage of lies on MSP. Lie — It is not feasible to provide legal guarantee for MSP in the budget of the government of India.”
According to CRISIL, giving MSP to farmers in 2022-23 would have resulted in an additional burden of Rs 21,000 crore on the government, which is only 0.4 per cent of the total budget, Rahul said in his post.
In a country where bank loans worth Rs 14 lakh crore have been waived and corporate tax exemption of Rs 1.8 lakh crore given, why is even a little expenditure on farmers irking them, he asked.
With the legal guarantee for MSP, investment in agriculture will increase, demand will increase in rural India, and farmers will also gain confidence in growing different types of crops, which is a guarantee of the country’s prosperity, Gandhi argued.
“Those who are spreading confusion on MSP are insulting Dr Swaminathan and his dreams,” the former Congress chief said.
Talking to reporters at the Shambhu border point between Punjab and Haryana on Tuesday, Pandher, who represents the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, said the farmers have three big demands -- a legal guarantee on the MSP for all crops, the implementation of the “C2 plus 50 per cent” formula as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission, and loan waiver. Replying to a question, Pandher said at the meeting with the Union ministers, the farmers proposed that a law on the MSP be enacted by convening a special session of Parliament.
On the issue of loan waiver, he said according to government reports, farmers have a total debt to the tune of Rs 18.5 lakh crore. He requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make an announcement that the farm loans would be waived, while a mechanism for the same could be worked out later.
“The BJP claims that the present prime minister is a strong prime minister. If he makes an announcement on waiving the debt of 80 crore farmers and farm laborers, it will stamp the BJP’s claim that he really is a strong prime minister,” Pandher said. He asked the Union ministers to give their response to the various demands of the farmers.
Replying to a question on the “Delhi Chalo” march, the farmer leader said “our announcement (of going to Delhi on Wednesday) stands”. To another question, he said no demand of the farmers has been accepted by the Centre.
He said at the meeting with Union ministers Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal, and Nityanand Rai, the farmers proposed that a law on the MSP be enacted by convening a special session of Parliament.
On the issue of internet suspension in certain areas of Punjab, Pandher said the state government should make its stand clear on this. Ashok Bulara, another farmer leader, said the government should frame a law on the MSP, waive farm loans, and give rates in accordance with the “C2 plus 50 per cent” formula recommended by the Swaminathan Commission.
“Either accept our demands or we should be allowed to move towards Delhi for a peaceful protest,” he said.
On Monday evening, SKM (Non-Political) leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal had said, “After holding discussions on two of our forums, it has been decided that the Centre’s proposal is not in the interest of farmers and we reject it.” Asked if their call for a march to Delhi still stands, Pandher had said, “We will move to Delhi peacefully at 11 am on February 21.”
The protesting farmers have been staying put at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana, after their “Delhi Chalo” march to press the BJP-led Centre for various demands, including a legal guarantee on the MSP for crops, was stopped by security forces.