Row erupts as Khattar says won't allow Rajasthan's bajra in Haryana
JAIPUR: Even as the farmers' agitation rages on in New Delhi, a major row has erupted between the Rajasthan and Haryana governments over the purchase of bajra crops.
In contrast to the ‘one nation, one market’ slogan which the Modi government has been arguing in defence of the new farm laws, Haryana CM Manoharlal Khattar had on Sunday tweeted that Rajasthan's bajra would not be allowed to be sold in Haryana.
This has angered the Congress government in Rajasthan which said the stand of the Khattar-led Haryana government exposed the hypocrisy of the BJP's ‘one nation, one market’ slogan.
Khattar asserted that in the mandis of Haryana, bajra is being purchased at the rate of Rs 2150 per quintal and in Rajasthan, it is being sold at 1300 per quintal. The Haryana CM said he would not permit farmers from Rajasthan to sell in his state.
After the controversial tweet by Khattar, the political temperature in Rajasthan has heated up and state Congress Chief Govind Singh Dotasara hit back at him. Dotasara also took to Twitter and argued that the lies of ‘one nation, one market’ under the new agricultural laws are being exposed by a BJP chief minister.
Dotasara remarked, “We have been saying from the beginning that the BJP government at the Centre has brought these black laws to benefit its business friends. That’s why the ‘Annadata’ (farmers) of the country is on the streets today and is forced to agitate.”
Rajasthan is the largest producer of bajra in the country. It produces well over 1/3rd of the total production of India every year. This year, bajra crops were sown in 39.42 lakh hectares and yielded a bumper crop of 43.64 lakh metric tonnes. Since no Bajra is being purchased on MSP in the state, farmers are selling Bajra at just Rs 1300 per quintal while Haryana is buying with an MSP of Rs 2150 per quintal.
Even grain traders in Rajasthan are upset with the comments of the Haryana Chief Minister. They argue that it’s the central government that decides the MSP and purchases at the given rate. They also question that when the bajra in Haryana is being purchased by the Centre, the attitude of the Haryana CM is unacceptable.