The current agitation over the Centre’s reformist farm laws is being led mostly by the farmers from Punjab with some support from those in Haryana. This has led the BJP and its supporters to term this as mostly a Punjab-centric move, with some even stating that it was sponsored by the middle men who saw their commissions being undercut by the new laws. And though there are offers to negotiate by and large, the PM has indicated that he stands firm behind his new laws which he feels will reform and revolutionise the way farmers sell their produce. The agitating farmers do not seem to agree, indicating that they were more comfortable with the old-style mandis, dealing with middle men and also with the assurance of a MSP.
The PM has stated that the mandis will not be dismantled but this does not seem to assuage the agitating farmers. Their stand is that initially the private sector may offer attractive rates, but once they have outbid the mandis it would lead to their dismantling, thereby giving the private companies a monopoly in the market. And that is when the farmers would be left to the mercy of the private bidder. The example of Jio versus BSNL is often bandied about by those not in favour of the Centre’s new bills. Interestingly, there is a clip going viral on WhatsApp that shows the late Sushma Swaraj arguing in the Lok Sabha (probably against the UPA government) against doing away with the middlemen for as she pointed out: Will the big industrialist come and talk to the farmers directly, or will a new class of middlemen spring up?
One of the demands of the agitating farmers is that the government needs to include its promise of MSP in the new laws. For its part the government says that the MSP was not included in the old laws and cannot be done as it’s an “administrative decision” to be decided by the CACP (Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices) and cannot be frozen in law.
While the BJP is right in that farmers from other parts of the country are yet to come out in protest, can it afford to be so sanguine as far as Punjab and even Haryana is concerned. For don’t forget, along with Uttar Pradesh, even the state of Punjab is slated to go to polls in 2022. The BJP currently has 3 MLAs out of 117 in the Punjab Assembly, and two MPs out of 13 Lok Sabha seats from the state, as well as one MP in the Rajya Sabha. It has also broken off with its ally in the state, the Shiromani Akali Dal, over the contentious issue of farmer laws. And regardless of the stand taken by the Centre, the state BJP is certainly not very comfortable at the way things are turning out. In fact when the Punjab Assembly passed bills to negate the Central farm laws, the BJP MLAs did not vote against the bill, but instead abstained, being absent from the house when the bills were put to vote. This had P. Chidambaram, tweeting that this was an act of “political cowardice” on their part. Even now as the farmers have hit the streets, the Punjab BJP is exerting pressure on its leaders to come out with a solution sooner than later, especially since the Congress, the SAD and the Aam Aadmi Party are supporting the farmers.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s invitation for talks on 3 December is being seen as too little, definitely too late. Perhaps this is one reason why Home Minister Amit Shah made a rare appeal to the agitating farmers for talks “even before 3rd December”. The BJP has also deployed its consensus man Rajnath Singh, a former Agriculture Minister, to woo the farmers but he too is making little headway.
The BJP’s allies don’t seem very happy at this turn of events either. In nearby Haryana, the JJP, is not looking very happy with the turn of events either. An independent MLA supporting the BJP-JJP government in the state has made his displeasure public; while in Jaipur the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party MP has said he may have to rethink his party’s support to the NDA. At a time when the party is focusing on opening new fronts, judging by the high-voltage campaign for the recently concluded Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Polls, should it not be first consolidating its hold in states where it already has a foothold?