In the middle of nationwide protests against the farm Acts passed by Parliament, the Delhi BJP has quietly begun drumming up support for them on one hand and on the other utilising the opportunity to gather political munition against the Aam Aadmi Party government across the Capital’s rural belt.
According to sources, the initiative would allow the BJP to bide time till the “monetary benefits” of the Acts manifested themselves as farmers went about the retail of this current season’s harvest.
At a party meeting on Sunday, it was decided that the party would undertake a three-day programme to educate Delhi’s farmers on the three farm Acts, led by Leader of the Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri.
“The party will hold several meetings and events across 360 villages in Delhi. The farmer community settled in these villages is connected to States such as Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan through family ties,” Mr. Bidhuri said.
“The rumours and the propaganda of the Opposition against the Acts, which we dispel here, will be relayed across several hundred kilometres in the other three States with significant rural belts,” he also said.
‘Double income’
Addressing a farmers’ conference in South Delhi’s Tajpur village on Monday, Mr. Bidhuri said that while the provisions in the new agricultural Acts will double the income of farmers, new techniques will help in agricultural production.
There will, he said, also be a guarantee of payment of crop sold by farmers in three days. If a farmer gives his land on contract, the buyer will also bear the risk of loss to his crop. Mr. Bidhuri said, the farmers he interacted with also demanded that the Arvind Kejriwal government fulfil the promises made by it to them.
“Under this, the MSP of wheat and paddy in Delhi should be ₹600 more than the Central government, free electricity should be supplied to farmers on the lines of Haryana,” he said.
“Recommendations to the DDA regarding the allocation of alternative residential plots in lieu of the land acquired from the farmers. Increase of Lal Dora has also been demanded by the farmers,” he also said.
Mr. Bidhuri further alleged Delhi was the only State where there had been no increase in the amount of compensation given to farmers against land acquisition.
Farmers are being compensated ₹17 lakh to ₹53 lakh per acre, he claimed, adding the rates have not been raised since being determined over a decade ago.
