Just when one thought that the BJP had everything sewn up—a groundswell of support for the Ram mandir at Ayodhya and numerous defections from the INDIA bloc—the farmers from Punjab and Haryana are on the move again, threatening to upset the government’s pre-poll calculations. The ‘Dilli Chalo’ march of over 200 farmer unions from Punjab is winding its way to the capital after talks with a trio of ministers broke down. Confrontation is in the air as the government has taken a hard line, preparing for security at Delhi’s borders with razor wires, tear gas and drones. It is apparent that an overhang of issues had been left to simmer even after the government withdrew the three farm laws in November 2021.
The farm laws came under unrelenting attack as they aimed to bypass the mandi system guaranteeing basic price support and farm loans in preference of a ‘free market’ for buying agricultural produce. Farmers feared that a creeping corporatisation by strong financial groups would leave them defenseless. The focus of the current agitation is to bring in legislation to support minimum support prices (MSP). The farmers’ leaders say this should be in line with the Swaminathan Commission report that recommended MSP should be raised to at least 50 percent above the weighted average cost of production. Though M S Swaminathan has been posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, the core of his farm formula is yet to be implemented.
The demands also include debt waiver for farmers and labourers, as well as improvement in the rural jobs guarantee scheme. What these demands point to is that India’s agriculture sector is gripped by a crisis of unremunerative prices. It is not a new discovery. Shetkari Sanghatna leader Sharad Joshi in 1979 framed it as an ‘India versus Bharat’ contradiction where, he said, ‘rural Bharat’ was being exploited by the richer ‘urban India’ by artificially suppressing farm prices. Significantly, unremunerative prices have now become an international problem as farmers are also jamming European cities with their tractors. Government spokespersons are dismissing the agitation as another attempt to drum up anti-government sentiment among rural folk. The farmers’ leaders, on their part, are acutely aware that the best chance of getting results is now: before the Lok Sabha elections. To avoid a repeat of 2021, a negotiated settlement before the battlelines harden would be the best course.