Krishna Byre Gowda , minister for agriculture in the Karnataka government speaks to Nistula Hebbar on Tipu Sultan, demands by the Lingayat community for a separate status as a religion and agricultural subsidies….
Tipu Jayanthi has become a raging controversy in Karnataka with Union ministers boycotting it. What is your take on it ?
It is so comical and shallow that all the top BJP leaders of Karnataka were proudly celebrating Tipu Jayanthi when they were in power and the same set is picking the issue just because our government gave it official recognition. BJP is so hypocritical that they are stubbornly continuing their new found opposition to Tipu Jayanthi despite a recent flood of photos, videos, and speech texts of their own top leaders in Tipu-look-alike attire praising Tipu to the hilt as a freedom fighter and national hero during their own Tipu Jayanthi celebrations. This whole episode proves two things — BJP's mindset as the self-appointed moral and politico-social arbiter of the nation. What they do and say is right, period. And, they are still right even if they are evidently changing their stand as per the convenience of the day. And the rest of the country must just hail and follow them. Secondly, this episode exposes their political opportunism and eagerness to divide and polarise the society for their political gain.
What do you think is Tipu’s place in history?
As far Tipu is concerned, he fought the British. That is a fact that no amount of fake news can erase. Few historical figures are perfect. Yet we revere them for their positive contributions. Kannadigas are proud that Tipu was a brave soldier in the nationalist cause.
The Madhya Pradesh government has started an experiment with subsidies for farmers paying out the difference between MSP and market price. As agriculture minister how do you look at it?
We analysed this idea four years ago when we came to power. Minimum Support Price (MSP) and market intervention work on the premise that market prices fall below MSP when there is a glut. Even small surplus can cause disproportionate fall in prices. So, the solution is to withdraw the surplus from market by government procurement at MSP and allow the market (prices) to stabilise. In this situation prices can stabilise due to two reasons — government procuring at MSP forces private traders to increase their prices to match; and the withdrawal of surplus production from the market will reduce the glut and hence allow prices to reach normal levels. This may not always work, but it is based on a set of logical principles.
The Madhya Pradesh model will not allow the market and prices to stabilise on their own. The solution is to be agile and aggressively intervene in the market through government procurement as soon as and whenever there is a fall in market prices below the MSP. The real grievance of farmers is not about below-MSP prices. Their contention is that MSP itself is not remunerative. Between 2006-2013the average increase in MSP was about 15% per annum. From 2014-17, this has dropped to 5%. During a few recent years it was even lower than the inflation rate. There seems to be collective amnesia about the promise that the MSP would be cost plus 50%. In fact, it has shrunk far below the previous years. There is perhaps a net decline in farm gate prices. Hence, the gap between MSP and farmer expectations has widened alarmingly. We in Karnataka have addressed this issue by the State Govt offering bonus prices over-and -above MSP. The bonus varies from crop to crop with inputs from State Agri Prices Commission.
Some sections of the Lingayat community in Karnataka are pushing for recognition as a separate religion. What do you have to say as minister in the State government?
The Lingayat community has been pushing for this for some years now. Our government and the Chief Minister (Siddharamaiah) have assured them of our support for their demand. However, subsequently there are confusions within the community. They pertain to philosophy, beliefs and practices. The Chief Minister has advised them to sort out these differences internally. But, we stand by our support for the demand of the community. BJP has tried to politicise this. But, it is better to keep politics out of such sensitive and emotional issues.
The BJP has recently launched a parivartana yatre in the state and flagged corruption, farmers suicide and appeasement politics as issues. How does the Congress combat this so close to polls?
A party that set the bench mark for corruption in the state history, that saw several ministers and the CM himself go to jail for corruption, and that still has many leaders facing serious corruption cases in the court or under enquiry, is talking about parivartan. We have given a scam-free governance in the State for four and half years. So, if I understand their slogan right, it means Karnataka has had a stable and scam-free government, so let's convert this back to the earlier five years of scams, land grabs, jails, bitter internal fights, musical chair leadership. The leader they are offering went to jail and still has serious cases.
Kannadigas can see through this. Surprising the BJP national leadership can't see it or is too arrogant even if it sees it. They are offering the same set of Ali Baba and ... No thanks!
