INDORE: The RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) said it would protest on Tuesday on two highways in Madhya Pradesh in support of the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism with over 10,000 farmers expected to take part, a functionary said on Monday.
Incidentally, MP agriculture minister Kamal Patel had said that the BJP would be organising farmer meets in the state from Tuesday to dispel "misconceptions" about the Centre's new farm laws.
Those protesting against the three farm laws have claimed they are aimed at doing away with the MSP and mandi mechanisms and give corporates a dominant role in the sector.
"Farmers of western Madhya Pradesh, known for major cotton harvests, are forced to sell their produce below MSP. In this region, even the procurement centre of Cotton Corporation of India has not come up," Kamal Singh Anjana of the BKS' Malwa Prant (Indore and Ujjain divisions) said.
"Maize too is being sold below MSP in western MP. On the call of the BKS, over 10,000 farmers will protest on national highway number 3 (Mumbai-Agra road) in Dhar and on Indore-Icchapur state highway in Khandwa," he said, adding that the BKS has already said some changes should be made in the new farm laws.
"For ensuring procurement through MSP and for other demands, we have written nearly four lakh letters to the president and prime minister from Madhya Pradesh," he added.
Meanwhile, Khandwa BJP MP and former president of MP BJP unit Nandkumar Chauhan said at a press conference that the new laws were for the benefit of farmers.
Asked about farmers not getting MSP for cotton and maize, Chauhan said, "recent rains have made the produce moist and this has caused some hurdles in their procurement".
To another query on the BKS' protest, Chauhan said India is a democracy and if the RSS-backed BKS wants to protest on farmers' issues, "it would manifest that it is an active organisation".